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— IX-
Butter Making
For Young
Creamery Butter Makers
Creamery Managers and
Private Dairymen
BY
J. H. MONRAD
Printed by URNER-BARRY CO.. 173 Chambers St., New York
A DANISH CO-OPERATIVE CREAMERY
Third edition PRICE SO CENTS
GIFT OF
UNIVERSITY FARM
IIV-
Butter Making
For Voung
Creamery Butter Makers
Creamery Managers and
Private Dairymen
BY
J. H. MONRAD
Printed by URNER-BARRY CO., 173 Chambers St., New York
A DANISH CO-OPERATIVE CREAMERY
Third Edition
PRiCE'SO CENTS
U.NlVERSlTY OFCAUFORNIA
LIBRARY
BRANCH OF THE
COLLEGE 9F AGRICULTURE
V
Have You Ever Used
Chr. Hansen's
Danish Butter Color?
The Standard of the World.
This is the Old Original Purely Vegetable Color
which has been used in Denmark for forty years or
more, and in this country since 1876. It was largely
supplanted by the stronger and more brilliant coal tar
colors some eighteen years ago, but since the Pure Food
lyaws have prohibited the use of artificial colors, our
Danish Butter Color has again come to the front, and
has been greatly improved in quality and strength.
See that you get the genuine Hansen's
Danish Butter Color
Also use Chr. Hansen's
Rennet Extract,
Cheese Color and
Lactic Ferment Culture.
Rennet Tablets and Cheese Color Tablets
for making Cheese on the Farm.
Manufactured and put up only by
Chr, Hansen's Laboratory,
Box 1 1 18 Little Falls, N. Y.
To First Edition.
do not pretend to fill a "long felt want" by publishing
this little book. Indeed, I realize how absurd it is
for a man who denounces the so-called "general pur-
pose" cow to the dairymen, to publish a small "gen-
-eral purpose" book.
Nevertheless, I hope many private dairymen as well as
•creamery men will find pointers in it which will make it worth
their while to read it.
If I only succeed in making the reader eager for more in-
formation, I shall have accomplished one of my purposes, and the
other, to make some money for myself, I trust a quick sale of this
edition will realize. J. H. MONRAD.
September, 1899. Winnetka, Ili,.
To Second Edition.
Five years in this age of continuous inventions make it
necessary to change and add a good deal to the first edition.
Though I have been asked why an illustration of a Danish Cream-
ery was used instead of an American one on the front page, I
"have retained it in order to induce other States to follow, as Min-
nesota has, the Danish plan of having good permanent brick
buildings with cement or flagstone floor. J. H. MONRAD,
January, 1905. 173 Chambers St., New York.
To Third Edition.
I find but little to change from the second edition ; the great-
est progress in the dairy appliances has been in better and more
sanitary manufactory. As to the art of buttermilk, there seems to
have been a tendency to aim at quantity rather than quality, which
I must warn against. J. H. MONRAD,
January, 19 10. Copenhagen, O, Denmark.
CHAPTER I.
THE MILK PRODUCTION.
WHICH COW DO YOU MILK ?
"First, catch your hare," is the instruction given by a certain
authority in cooking, and the buttermaker, to make a success of
his profession, must first of all see to it that his raw material —
milk — is produced as cheaply as possible. This is the duty not
only of the farm buttermaker, but of the creamery buttermaker as
well. No creamery can succeed in the long run where the patrons
DIDO.
produce milk at a loss ; and milk is made at a loss firstly, by milk-
ing the wrong cows, secondly, by wrong feeding and care, and^
thirdly, by careless, uncleanly handling of the milk.
The question then is Which cow do you milk?
Do you milk the blocky, plump Dido, who, though she gave
5,562 lbs. of milk, or 216 lbs. of butter, produced the latter at a
food cost of 18.2 cents per pound, or do you milk the "spare,
angular cow with a deep body," like Houston, who produced
the butter at a food cost of 10.8 cents per pound?
In this question of Dairy Form (compare illustrations),
first raised by W. D. Hoard, lies the main secret of profitable
5
or unprofitable milk production and, consequently, buttermaking.
There is no room in this little treatise to go further into details of
the interesting experiments reported by Prof. T. L. Haecker, in
Minnesota Experiment Station Bulletin 35, from which the illus-
trations have been taken.
Some tests have also been made in Denmark, in which
the cost of production from 200 cows varied from 15.1 cents
to 78.5 cents per pound of butter.
These experiments show that the profitable dairy cow is
found not only by selecting a particular breed, but also by paying
strict attention to each individual cow. The "average" cow is
the curse of dairying. It requires no great intelligence to see that
it is better to milk six cows giving a good profit than to milk ten.
HOUSTON.
four of which reduce if they do not annihilate the profit of the
other six. But this is what is being done on seven or eight farms
out of ten.
If it is important to test the individual cows of the dairy
breeds, how much more with the so-called general purpose or
-dual purpose cows. In my opinion it is possible for a breeder
of beef cattle to produce a fair lot of milk "on the side" at a
profit, but it is folly to attempt producing steers from dairy cows,
though possibly baby beef may be made to pay. Yet some splen-
did milkers may be found among so-called dual purpose cows
and if they stand the test, why not use them? It must also be
Tcmembered that it takes a dairyman to care for a dairy cozv, and
the best cow alive may be unprofitable in the hands of an un-
.skillful, careless man.
TEST ASSOCIATIONS.
If the individual milk producers do not like to take the
trouble to test their cows and keep an account with them, ten or
twelve may co-operate and hire a young man to do it. Such a
Test Association was started in 1895 in Denmark, and in 1908-
that country boasted of 479 such. If desired, the selection and.
buying of pure-bred bulls may also be made the object of such an
Association. Co-operation is the only way in which the farmers-
can hold up their end of the line.
I cannot too strongly urge the formation of these associations,,
and the State or National government might well encourage them
by subsidies, if proper reports are made annually. Little Den-
mark spends $32,400.00 on subsidies to them.
It is, however, very little work to weigh the milk from^
each cow once a week and test it with a Babcock Tester. If there
is no creamery nearby willing to do it cheaply, a good four or
eight, bottle tester can be bought for $8.00 to $10.00. Figure i
shows one made by the D. H. Burrell Co., and all our leading'
firms now make good ones.
The spindle legged cheap tester should be avoided. But testing
will not be treated here in detail as Professors Farrington and
Woll, in their book on" Milk Testing'" (see list
of books) treat the subject in an exhaustive
and practical manner, and every dairyman
should buy this book as well as a tester.
As to keeping track of the cost of food,
(Fig. 1) there is no need of weighing it out to each
cow ; but it is enough to make a memorandum now and then and:
note the dates when changes are made, so as to give a fair idea of
what has been consumed during the year.
As a beginning let creamery men and patrons co-operate
and keep track of the number of cows fed (not milked) by each
patron, so as to know the average milk yield on each farm at the
end of the year. The difference revealed will be an eye-opener
and prove the necessity of testing each individual cow.
WHAT FEED TO USE.
It would be absurd here to attempt to reply to this question,,
which Prof. W. A. Henry, of Madison, Wis., has treated in his-
7
6oo-page "Feeds and Feeding," and Prof. Jordan in his 450-page
"Feeding of Animals," but it cannot be dodged altogether in dis-
cussing the economical production of milk.
All food consists of various elements that are grouped mainly
as proteids, muscle producing elements, and carbohydrates, fat
and heat producing elements. Various experiments have shown
that the best result is obtained when these are present in the food
in a certain proportion and that it is partly waste when either is
given in too great excess. What this proportion should be, is a
mooted question, and the Germans proposed to vary it according
to the quantity of milk given. Prof. Woll suggested 24.5 lbs.
(dry matter) with a proportion of i lb. protein to 6.9 lbs. of car-
bohydrates. This ratio was based on the actual rations given by
128 successful American dairymen — ^but it seems to me that the
economical ratio (proportion) will depend somewhat on circum-
stances, that is, on the local price of the various feeds. Judg-
ment must be used to decide whether, for instance, to sell oats
and corn and buy bran and oil meal or not, and cost of freight and
hauling both ways must also be considered.
In our western states the carbohydrates are produced in ex-
cess and consequently the mistake of feeding too much of them
is often made, as when corn is given in excess. The rations should
be balanced up by adding bran, peas, linseed or cotton seed meal,
the latter containing over three times as much protein as corn
and only half the amount of carbohydrates, but, best of all, alfalfa
should be grown, and "if at first you don't succeed, try and try
again !"
I can do no better than quote from the Wisconsin bulle-
tin, No. 116, by Prof. F. W. Woll:
"The general trend of the results of feeding experiments with
milch cows is in the direction of showing that protein feeds pos-
sess a somewhat higher value of milk production than feeding
stuffs of a more carbonaceous character, but the profitable extent
of feeding such feeds must be determined largely by local condi-
tions. With a fair amount of protein in the ration supplied of
farm-grown foods, the narrowing of the ration fed, by the addi-
tion of protein foods, is not a matter of prime importance. The
testimony furnished by studies of the feeding practices conducted
8
under a variety of conditions plainly shows that excellent results
may be obtained by the use of quite wide ratios ; a liberal supply
of digestible matter in the rations of cows that are good producers
is of importance, irrespective of the proportion of nitrogenous
nutrients found therein, if the rations contain a minimum of pro-
tein, which may be placed for different cows at from 1.3 to 1.5
lbs. At the same time it should be borne in mind that the cows
are most likely to produce milk of the best quality of which they
are capable, on rations that contain a fair amount of protein, and
have nutritive ratios not wider than about 1.7, for cows in full
flow of milk ; under ordinary conditions in the north central states
a somewhat narrower nutritive ratio than this will, generally
speaking, prove profitable, where the permanent effect on the pro-
duction of the herd is kept in view."
It is with great satisfaction that I note how the scientists
are nearing the view of practical feeders.
It behooves every dairyman to take stock of his available
feedstuffs and inform himself as to the cost of various commercial
feeds and then calculate the most economical ration for his cows,
under his conditions.
Until the younger generation of farmers is educated up to
the necessary calculations, it is a simple matter to write to your
Experiment Station and state what feed stuffs you have and their
selling value as well as local prices of bran, oilmeal, etc., and ask
for suggestions as to proper rations. Or, if you are — as you ought
to be — 3. subscriber to Hoard's Dairyman — you simply write to
that paper.
But, and a very large BUT, we must always bear in mind that
chemical analyses of feeds are averages and may not fit your case
exactly, and that the practical farmer, while taking hints from
the chemist, will feed his cows with one eye on the milk pail and
the other on the excrements. Give }our cows a variety of sound
feed, and if stabled, provide a succulent food, either roots or
silage, and remember that where corn will grow no cheaper food
basis exists than well-preserved silage.
In summer the most common mistake, which increases the
cost of production, is to allow the cows to shrink in yield when
pjastures are getting poor, instead of supplementing them at
9
^nce with some sort of a soiling crop. Any dairy farmer deserv-
ing the name should have a few acres planted for this purpose.
If not needed it is not lost. Silage is also used for helping out
pastures by such men as H. B. Gurler. Finally let me put in a
word for cutting hay early and curing it as hay and not as straw,
and for the making of oat-hay.
These general outlines being observed and the feeding and
watering being done at regular hours, we have done what is pos-
sible to produce cheap milk as far as feeding is concerned.
I mention six daily rations which Prof. Woll recommends as
•good examples.
1. Corn silage 40 lbs., clover hay 8 lbs., wheat bran 6 lbs.
and corn-meal 3 lbs.
2. Corn fodder 20 lbs., hay 6 lbs., oats 4 lbs., shorts 4 lbs.,
'Oil-meal 2 lbs.
3. Corn silage 50 lbs., corn stover 6 lbs., oats 6 lbs., malt
sprouts 4 lbs., corn-meal 2 lbs.
4. Corn silage 30 lbs., hay 15 lbs., wheat bran 3 lbs., corn-
meal 3 lbs., cotton seed meal 2 lbs.
5. Timothy hay 10 lbs., clover hay 8 lbs., wheat bran 6
lbs., oats 6 lbs.
6. Corn fodder 20 lbs., clover hay 8 lbs., oats 6 lbs., oil
meal 3 lbs.
INI^IyUENCE: OF FE:KD on THTJ RICHNESS OF MILK.
Most farmers as well as scientists labored for years under
the delusion that an increase in the feed, and especially in that
rich in fat, would increase the percentage of fat in the milk.
Later experiments have proven that this is not true to any extent
worth mentioning. Feeding to excess or feeding very rich food
may for a short time increase the richness, but it soon drops into
the percentage normal for each cow and the ambitious breeder
who "tests" his cows that way has a fair chance of ruining them
for life.
Why, starving a cow will make her give abnormally rich milk,
though less of it.
Increasing the feed of a cow, not fed up to her full capacity,
will increase the milk yield — the total amount of butterfat pro-
10
duced — but not the percentage of fat in the milk. If this old
belief were correct, we should be able to make ''Holsteins" give
"Jersey" milk!
We want to feed all a cow will pay for — no more, no less.
WHAT CARK DO YOU GIVE) YOUR COWS ?
The right cows being secured and the right feed given at
regular hours, we may yet lose the advantages gained if the cows
are kept shivering in the lea of a strawstack or suffocated in a
dark, close stable.
If she is left to shiver in fall rains and snow, the cow will
not only utilize a large amount of her feed as a fuel to keep
warm, (an expensive firewood, indeed), but as experiments in-
Denmark have shown, she will change the composition of the but-
terfat in her milk so much that the butter is liable to be mistaken
for oleomargarine ! I have no doubt this is the real cause of that
lack of flavor every fall, for which our butter merchants blame
the "frozen grass."
There is no need of providing fancy stables. We may
even make fairly good* ones with a clay floor and the walls
and roof of straw, if we only provide ventilation and light. The
latter calls for the heaviest cash outlay, but sashes are now sa
cheap and the value of light of so great importance to the health
of the cows that there is no excuse for not having plenty of it.
As to ventilation, I give in Fig. 2 a cross section of a stable
14 feet by 8 feet high. A wooden flue (A A) is placed along one
wall and made high
enough to give some
draft or at least four
feet above the ridge
of the roof.
On the opposite
wall are inserted two-
or three flues like
»^^^' B B, or, if the wall
is a double boarded
one, the air may be
(Fig. 2) taken in by leaving
a board out between two studs on the outside at K (on the piece
of wall shown) and another one on the inside at M, but in that
%,
r
II
case a board N should be nailed in a slanting position with end
pieces on either side so as to give the air a slant in direction of the
ceiling.
As to the size of the flues, Prof. King, of Madison, Wis.,
(whose excellent book, "Physics of Agriculture," every farmer
ought to have) considers that for 20 cows they should have a
cross-section 2 feet by 2 feet. The intake of fresh air need not be
nearly so large, as there are always leaks at windows and doors
and it is better to have several small intakes to prevent draught.
This principle — air circulation without draught on the cows —
can be applied to a straw stable as well as to the most expensive
one.
Comfort is an important element in cheap milk production,
and while fixed stanchions may make it easier to keep the cows
clean, we need only observe them when lying in the pasture to
know how cruel and unnatural their position must be in those
"animal stocks." Somewhat better are the various swinging
stanchions, but tying them, or — if it can be afforded — one of the
modern stalls like the "Bidwell" or the "Drown" are the only right
systems, and a liberal supply of bedding will not only help to
keep them clean and make them comfortable, but increase the
manure heap, which the Danish farmers call their "gold mine."
To keep a cow tied up all winter is in no way a natural treat-
ment, and though it is done by many good dairymen (thus uni-
versally in Holland and Denmark), the trend is now, as Mr. H.
B. Curler recommends in his ''American Dairying," to give them
lukewarm water outside, and if the weather is fairly mild let them
remain there an hour or two at their option. This advice should
not be misunderstood as a defense for those farmers who turn
their cows out to drink through a hole in the ice on the watering
trough.
The more the cow is deprived of exercise, the greater the need
of keeping the pores of the skin open by daily carding and brush-
ing. Indeed, this is not only a question of health (cheap milk pro-
duction), but also of cleanliness (pure milk). It is a wonder to
me that the farmer who will give his time willingly to keep his
horse clean, begrudges it to his cows. It is a question of health
in both cases, but in the latter it is also a question of health to his
12
own family and those who may drink the milk, not to speak of
the quality of the butter. Either on the farm or in the creamery,
cleanliness means dollars and cents.
MIIvKING.
The manner in which the milking is done has also an in-
fluence on the cost of production. Regular hours are all-important
and so is kindness. Indeed, I do not believe any one quite a suc-
cess as a milker unless he (or she) can make the cow look upon
him (or her) as an adopted calf.
The importance of milking the very last drop is due not only
to the fact that the last pint is many times more valuable (richer
in butterfat) than the first, but also to the fact that it helps to
keep up the flow of milk and extend the milking period. This is
especially important in developing heifers. The money lost all
over the United States by poor milking can hardly be over-
estimated.
Cleanliness in milking means quality in the butter. If the
cows are cleaned and brushed an hour or so before milking, so
as to let the dust settle, the only precaution needed is dampening
the udder with a wet cloth so as to prevent scales and dust from
falling into the pail. Many milkers have the bad habit to let their
fingers get wet, sometimes deliberately dipping them into the
milk, so as to make them slide down the teats. The proper way
is to milk with perfectly dry hands, by squeezing, not by sliding.
Only in "stripping" to start the flow and to get the last drops of
milk, it may be preferable to slide the fingers down the teats.
It is hardly necessary to say that hands and fingernails must
be clean and that all utensils must first be rinsed with cold water
and then carefully washed and scrubbed — using soda, the ex-
cellent "Wyandotte Cleaner and Cleanser," "Savogran," or
"Gold Dust" (never common soap) when needed — and finally
rinsed with boiling (not 190 or 200, but 212 deg. Fah.) water.
The pails and cans should be easy to clean and the seams sol-
dered perfectly smooth as any little unevenness in the surface
makes them more difficult to clean.
These rules for producing clean milk are not new ; over a hun-
dred years ago they were observed by the good buttermakers, but
it remained for the last decade of last century to explain the rea-
son "why," and thus make the tedious work easy.
13
Souring of milk, and indeed most of the taints from which
milk may suffer, have been shown by our scientists to be due to
various bacteria. These bacteria thrive in the excrements and
dirt ; and they float on the dust and drop into the pail while milk-
ing; they abound in the little specks of dried milk left in the
crevices in badly soldered cans, in poorly cleaned strainers, in rags
used for wiping the cans after washing (which should never be
done), in dust gathered on the cow's hide, under the fingernails
of the man who milks, in fact everywhere.
When we know this, we understand the necessity of the pre-
cautions hinted at, and when we know that these bacteria will
multiply in the warm milk much more rapidly than in cold, we
understand the value of cooling the milk or cream as much as
possible at once in order to deliver it in the best condition to
the creamery.
Every bacterium which is in the milk as it leaves the stables
will multiply 23 times in two hours at 95 deg., 215 times in four
hours and 3,800 times in six hours. But if the milk is cooled to
55 deg. they will multiply 4 times in two hours. 8 times in four
hours and 435 times in six hours, while if the milk is chilled in
ice they will hardly increase at all.
BETTER CARE NEEDED FOR MII.K AND CREAM.
It is not SO hard to convince the private dairyman of the need
of all these precautions, he will at once see their value in a better
product — ^better price. But the farm.er should also be willing to
acknowledge their need when sending the milk or cream to be
made into butter at the creamery. He is just as much interested
in the final result whether the creamery be run on a strictly co-
operative basis or by an individual. Indeed, as the milk has to
be transported before being separated and the bacteria get a bet-
ter chance to develop than if the butter is made on the farm,
handling the milk for the creamery requires more care. If
patrons understand this and act accordingly, it will be easy to in-
crease the value of our creamery butter from i to 2 cents a pound,
or, for the United States, say from three to six million dollars.
COOLING AND AERATING.
Experience has shown that the very best way of preparing
milk for hauling is to run it over one of the combined aerators and
14
coolers. The three best styles are represented by Fig. 3, the "Star
Cooler," by Fig. 4, the "Champion Cooler," and Fig. 5, the
Schmith System. The first and the third are arranged so as to
have water, or, better still, iced water, flowing in the opposite
direction from the milk and will cool the milk in the most econom-
ical manner. Other manufacturers, such as A. H. Reid Creamery
and Dairy Supply Co., Vt. Farm Machine Co., Creamery Package
Mfg. Co., etc., make similar coolers. The second is preferable
where water is scarce and ice is available.
(Fig. 8)
TIM
(Fig. 5)
(Fig. 4)
(Fig. 6)
The compromise of aeration without cooling
more than the temperature of the air will allow,
will be far better than straining directly into the
shipping can, and for this purpose the simple
apparatus shown in Fig. 6 is satisfactory. It
consists simply of a pail with perforated
bottom into which the milk is strained and from
there drops into the receiving funnel. It
is made by D. H. Burrell & Co., Little
Falls, N..Y.
Setting the can in cold water and aerat-
ing by dipping is, if conscientiously done,
a great help, but the way it is usually done it
is a delusion and a snare. Nor must it he
forgotten that aeration in anything but abso-
lutely pure air is bound to prove detrimental
instead of beneficial.
k
15
A ne;w milk can.
Attention has been drawn to the import-
ance, in buying cans and pails, of seeing that
the soldering is smooth and even, but even if
it is, the seams remain the danger point. In
Fig. 7, I illustrate a Danish improvement. The
cans are made of two pieces, pressed out of the
very best English steel plate, joined in the mid-
dle of the side and heavily tinned. The cover
is of one piece and the handles only are riveted.
Prof. Boeggild strongly recommended this can
in "Maelkeritidende," and it has given good sat-
isfaction in the past six years. The price for j^
the 8-gallon size is $3.00 in Denmark, but if (^^^- '^^
it is durable it would be cheap at $5.00. Now they even make
lo-gallon cans stamped out of one piece of steel. These cans are
now made with an anti-rust composition imbedded in the bottom,
claimed to be innocuous.
STRAINING.
The strainers on the market are innumerable, but most of
them are delusions and snares. "Prevention is far better than
cure." In the first place all the fine metal strainers only keep the
coarse dirt and chaff out, moreover nearly all of them allow the
milk to rinse the spores and bacteria off the dirt as it lies caught
in the meshes. Fine muslin is better, and light flannel is the
best, as long as it is kept clean, and renewed when felted, so as
not to delay the work too much. I am not in favor of the so-
called sanitary milk pail, with a small opening in the top to admit
a strainer, in which the milking is done, the difficulty in keeping
it clean counterbalances, in my opinion, the advantage, unless the
opening is in a loose cover.
Far better will it be to cover the pail with a piece of light
iknnel or double muslin, allowing it to sag in the middle; four
clothes pins will keep it in place. For straining into the shipping
can or separator tank, I also prefer the strainers that are easy to
*lean, having no nooks and corners.
ke:e:ping account.
I simply suggest the following ruling for the record of the
individual cows. It requires two page5\ with 26 lines for each
cow. In the column "For Week," you insert the "Total" daily
i6
milk yield multiplied by seven, and in that of "Pounds Butter
Fat" the result multiplied by the percentage of fat and divided
by lOO. To calculate butter yield add one-sixth to the butter fat.
Weekly Record of Cow No Born The calf dropped^
Served Due.
MILK IN POUNDS
Babcock
Test
Pounds
Butter
Fat
Date of Test
Morn-
ing
Even-
ing
Total
For
Week
Remarks
In testing cows they should be milked at exactly the same
hour in the evening on the test day as on the day before. The
total milk should be weighed or measured daily in order to con-
trol the production, and so should that used in the house or for
the calves. The last pointer I desire to give in this chapter is to
suggest either the offering of premiums, as Mr. Gurler does, to
those milkers (be they hired men or your own boys and girls)
whose cows keep up the milk flow best, or making them co-part-
ners by giving them a certain share in whatever the cows yield
during the year over a certain amount. If you do this and let
the milking be counted as work and not as a little extra "chore" to
be done after dark (sooner or later, as the field work may allow),
you will find the cows will respond and the cost of production will
he reduced.
PRO^. HA^CK^r'S ID^AIy CKL,t, "yOUNG HOUSTON.
CHAPTER 11.
RECEIVING MILK AT THE CREAMERY.
the: greatest TRIAIv.
The greatest trials of a creamery buttermaker are at the
weigh can. It is there he must show his knowledge of human
nature, his diplomacy and his sense of justice. We will pre-
sume that the proprietors (individual or co-operative) have
given him the strong moral backing of a well-built, neatly painted
creamery with neat surroundings, as well as full authority to re-
ject poor milk. We will also presume that he has recognized the
same principle by keeping the platform, the scales, the wall and
his person perfectly neat and clean. (This presupposes also that
he is not expected to be on a jump between the boiler and the
receiving can).
All this given, he has yet to show his diplomacy by treating
the various patrons in a way to suit their individual idiosyncracies,
so as to obtain the desired result — pure, clean milk. He has yet
to show his backbone and sense of justice by refusing to accept
tainted milk, which he knows will deteriorate the quality of butter
even if it belongs to the owner or one of the directors. He has
yet to learn that the patron's interests are identical with his own.
Every patron delivering milk should back up such a milk receiver,
he is fighting in their interest, as they would lose by the acceptance
of the tainted milk.
•
TESTING MILK.
To run a creamery on the pooling system is so absurd that it
requires no mention. I am in reality in favor of having an out-
sider— at best — a woman, receive, and take the samples and test
the milk, but in any case the testing should be done openly and
fairly to all and no one should do this work who has not studied
Milk Testing carefully. Suffice it here to say that the better the
milk has been cared for, the easier it is to secure a uniform, fair
sample. No maker can afford to juggle with the test scale either
17
i8
to favor certain patrons or to make a showing of paying more for
butterfat than does a neighboring creamery by reading the test
low or giving short weight. In the first case he steals from some
patrons in favor of others ; in the second case, he is simply help-
ing his employers or his patrons to fool themselves and others.
In testing it must be remembered that the taking of a
correct sample is the most important part of the work and that
when milk is left at rest only for a few minutes, the cream will
commence to rise and it will make a difference whether the sample
is taken from the top, the bottom or the center.
With small lots, as for instance in sampling single cow's
milk, it is easy enough to get a fair sample by pouring the milk
from one bucket to another a few times, but this must not be done
so violently as to make it foam too much. If close work is de-
sired for composite samples (the collecting of two or more
samples for testing at once) the ''Scovell" tube is safest to use. By
this, if the sample is taken from a cylindrical vessel, a propor-
tionate amount is secured each time. Thus, if a cow should give
30 lbs. of 3 per cent, milk in one milking, and 15 lbs. of 5 per cent,
milk in the next (to quote an exaggerated example) the result
would be exactly correct; whereas if we took equal samples, the
result would be too high.
But the difficulty in getting a good sample is greatly in-
creased when we come to large quantities of milk as delivered at
the creameries. It is true that, if the milk is delivered every
day, and has been stirred while cooling, the pouring into the weigh
can and a few vigorous strokes with a long-handled dipper will
enable us to get a fair sample. Yet patrons don't seem to realize
the advantage of taking good care of the milk and the result is
that cream clots will float on top ; in taking the sample, these must
be avoided and the farmer gets a lower test.
The Scovell tube is >^ to i inch in diameter, with three open-
ings and has a cap at the bottom. The tube is pushed gently to
the bottom of the can and pressed so as to push the cap above the
openings securing a column of milk exactly like that in the can.
For creamery work the objection is that too large a sample is
secured and also that in doing the work — as must be — in a hurry,
milk is apt to adhere to the outside and if there is any cream on
19
top this will naturally hang on and part of it get mixed with the
sample. Of course this can be avoided by holding a cloth round
the tube in one hand while pulling it out with the other. Of
other samplers I mention the Kolarik and Werder's, and Prof.
McKay's.
Another system has been used, namely, to have a very fine
hole or drip-cock in the conductor from the weigh can to the re-
ceiving vat to catch the drip. Experiments at Wisconsin Dairy
School have shown this method to be very exact.
the: ferme:ntation te:st.
The test for fat, is, however, simply a question of a little care
and absolute honesty, while the test for taint is far more difficult.
When milk arrives at a temperature between 70 and 90 de-
grees and the receiver's nose is in good working order, it is com-
paratively easy to discover taint, but when the milk arrives ice
cold it has to be badly tainted to be detected at onc^.
The receiver should take the cover off the cans personally so
as to get the very first whiff. He should first see that the outside
of the can is clean and when pouring the milk into the weigh can
he should watch the bottom and the seams of the can. The patron
should not get huffy, but rather be pleased when he sees such a
close examination.
The truth is that the patron — if he does his duty — is more
likely to know when the milk is bad and should draw the re-
ceiver's attention to it, instead of being "tickled" if he succeeds
in getting a bad lot of milk passed into the receiving vat.
Even with the greatest care, tainted milk will be taken in and
the only way to locate the trouble is to use the Fermentation Test.
When it is located, visit the farm, and if the combined efforts of
farmer and buttermaker cannot discover the cause, then the same
test should be applied to each cow.
This test is simply to sterilize (by boiling) some glass tubes
5x1 inch (or else the "common sense" half pint bottles) and take
a sample of milk in each. Keep these covered at a temperature
from 90 to no degrees, by keeping in warm water. After five
or six hours observe them, without shaking, every hour or so, note
the time of coagulation and, after 9 to 12 hours, see how the
20
curd acts. If it remains one
solid column like pure marble
and, on being shaken up, has a
pleasant, clean acid smell and
taste, the milk is first-class. If,
on the other hand, the curd
has a large number of more or
less irregular holes, it will, as a
rule, when shaken, have a
stench which will convince the
In Fig. 8 I illustrate the original "Gerber"
(Fig. 8)
most skeptical patron
test, in which a lamp heats the water bath.
This test will also help the private dairyman in trouble and
indeed it is the duty of every farmer who receives a complaint
from the creamery to attempt to find the cause, and, in the last in-
stance, make this test.
I should not be afraid of guaranteeing my butter at a cream-
ery if the farijiers kept a sample of their milk under this test and
only sent me such as their wives were willing to drink at the end
of the test.
As to acidity, I am not so afraid of that, as long as the sep-
arator does not get clogged, and, unless I wanted to pasteurize
it, the nose and tongue is guide enough without the aid of the
Acid Test. But, if we want to pasteurize or perchance ship the
milk to a city, then the acid test is of great value.
It remains now only to refer to the "Alcohol Test," which is
too expensive to use in the States and the latest "Reduction Test"
which seems promising especially in connection with the Fermen-
tation Test as suggested by Prof. Orla Jensen.
At the weigh can is the weak point of co-operative dairying,,
be the factory run by an individual or by the farmers, and not
until patrons have the moral conviction that to deliver tainted milk
at a creamery is not only to steal from the creameryman, hut also
from their fellozv patrons, not until then, I say, have we any hope
of a perfect product from our cream.eries.
It has been suggested to pay for milk not only according to
tat percentage, but also according to grade, and that the milk be
"scored" each day. Though this has been practiced in a few
creameries in Denmark, I did not believe it to be practical, yet it
seems to be gaining ground and may be realized by the formation
21
•of milk scoring associations where several creameries combine
and hire an independent man to make surprise scorings. This
plan is to be recommended highly even before decision is made
to pay accordingly provided the results are posted at the weigh
■can.
Cans in transit should be protected against sun and dust,
and in very hot weather it will be found a good thing to cover
them with a wet blanket, as the evaporation of the water will cool
the cans.
To secure the desired co-operation, it is much to be preferred
that the patrons take turns in delivery instead of having regular
milk haulers. If these have to be employed, as great care should
be used in selecting them as by our President in selecting an em-
bassador. Unless the milk receiver knows the hauler to be a man
of discretion, he had better not complain about the milk to him,
"but, if possible, call on the farmer in person, or ask him to call at
the creamerv.
CHAPTER III.
RAISING THE CREAM.
COMPOSITION OF MILK — CONDITIONS AFFKCTING ITS CREAMING.
In IOC lbs. of milk is found an average of 87.5 lbs. water^
in which is dissolved 3.75 lbs. casein and albumen, 4.5 lbs. of
milk sugar, and 0.75 lbs. of ash. In this watery solution — -
"serum" — 3.5 lbs. of butterfat, more or less, exists in emulsion.
The specific gravity of the butter globules is less than that of
the serum (skim milk), that is, if a certain measure of water at
60 deg. weighs 1,000 lbs., the same measure of skim milk will'
weigh about 1,034 lbs., of new milk about 1,030 lbs., of cream hold-
ing 25 per cent, of fat 1,002 lbs., of pure butterfat (at 100 deg.)
about 867 ibs.
These facts explain the process of creaming, which goes on if
milk is left at rest. The fat globules together with some serum«
rise to the top and form a layer of cream while the skim milk re-
tains more or less of the fat.
Various conditions affect this separation, notably the depth
of the layer of milk and the temperature. It is evident that the
thinner the layer of milk the sooner will the butter globules make
their way to the top.
Cooling will, as the late Prof. Arnold pointed out, affect the
serum and make it shrink faster than the butterfat, and thus in-
crease the difference in the specific gravity and cause the cream to
rise sooner. But while milk is being heated the opposite result is^
obtained and the cream will rise more slowly.
If, on the other hand, the temperature is stationary, the
higher temperature is the more favorable as the butterfat expands-
more (though more slowly) than does the serum.
These facts explahi why the "practical" dairymen often re-
port various results and demonstrate the necessity of varying the
system of setting according to the conditions ruling.
22
23
SETTING f HALLOW.
This used to be the common system in most countries,
whether in the large Scandinavian and German shallow wooden
tub, the French and English earthenware dishes, the large
enameled cast-iron pans (Destinon), the Dutch copper basins or
the modern tinned steel milk pan.
The depth at which the milk is set should vary according to
the temperature in the room, and if very warm I have seen it set
as shallow as i^ inches, but if the temperature is 60 deg., the
depth may be from 2 to 3 inches. The cream should be skimmed
while the milk is sweet, but I have also
got good results by doing it just before
or at the very minute the milk
coagulated, and, if set in a clean room, (Fig. 9)
free from odors, the resultant butter
may be as fine as from any other system. Coagulation stops the
rising of the cream. The cream is best removed with a flat, finely
perforated skimmer, Fig. 9.
DEEP SETTING.
The Orange County (N. Y.) system was, I believe, the first
by which the milk was set in cans about 20 inches deep and from 8
to 15 inches in diameter — round (Fig. 10) or oval. They were
i I )
(Pig. 10) (Fig.
placed in running water from springs holding a temperature of
48 to 50 deg. This is satisfactory, and wherever such water is
obtainable the dairy should be built with a tank of wood or pre-
ferably of cement, arranged as shown in Fig. 11, letting the water
enter at the bottom at one end and flow out at the top at the other.
It was soon adopted in Sweden and elsewhere, and in 1864
Mr. Swartz suggested the use of ice water ; and in that case, unless
tainted by spilt milk, the water need not be renewed more than
once or twice a month.
This system soon gained
ground and its application
is very simple whether it be
with a cut off whiskey (or
other) barrel into which a
single can is set, or with a
larger tub for six or eight
cans or large cement tanks
with room for 50 or 100
cans. The ice should of
course be crushed so as to
find place between the cans
and thus give an intensive
cooling. (See Fig. 12.)
Prof. Fjord made experi-
ments which showed that
the very best results were
obtained with cans 8 inches
in diameter, and by using plenty of crushed ice so as to ensure a
very quick cooling.
Later Dr. Babcock, of Wisconsin, reported the following
average analyses of skim milk from deep setting at different
temperatures :
Ice water 35 degrees— 45 degrees F 282
48 decrees 287
" 54—66 degrees 746
" 58 degrees . 949
Per 100 lbs. of milk set
loss by not using ice 065
" 614
" " 717
And also how an average loss of .086 per 100 lbs. of milk may be
caused by not setting the milk immediately after milking.
Meanwhile Mr. Cooley invented his cans (Fig. 13). The
cover, like an inverted tin pan, allows the can to be fully sub-
merged in the water while it lets the condensed vapor escape into
the latter. The advantage of this system is the exclusion -A
tainted air. Fine insulated tanks, some of them provided with ele-
vators, are sold for these cans, but if that is too expensive, a bar-
rel containing such a can may be set in anywhere, if no special
dairy room is provided. These cans are sold with and without
a tube by which the skim milk is removed from the cream
The advantage of the tube to the one-cow dairy is obvious,
as the good wife may at any time withdraw a little milk without
materially disturbing the creaming process. More exact separa-
tion of the cream is also possible than with the regular conical
^5
•skimmer used for all deep setting cans. Yet, if there should be
any ''sediment" it would be better to skim from the top. Experi-
ments have shown that these cans are no better than the common
shot-gun cans (Fig. lo) as far as the cream
raising is concerned, temperatures being the
same.
A good many other fancy cabinet creamers
are on the market in which the ice water cools
the cans in the upper compartment and re-
frigerates the lower one, where cream and but-
ter may be stored. Mosley & Pritchard's and
the '^Crystal" in the West, "Stoddard's" and
**A. H. Reid's" in the East, are among these.
It is simply a matter of first cost, neatness,
convenience and insulation. Provided the /p^ y^^
temperature maintained is the same, as good skimming can be
done in the 60 or 75 cent shot-gun can, placed in a sawed-ott
whiskey barrel as in the finest cabinet creamer in the market.
While thus ice water or running water not warmer than 50
•deg., makes this system a comparative success, it must not be
forgotten that where warmer water than this is used, the result
may be a loss of from i^ to 2}^ lbs. of butter (or nearly half)
per 100 lbs. of milk.
Another drawback never emphasized enough in America is
the fact demonstrated by Prof. Fjord that where all the milk is
from cows in their last period of lactation (say from 7 to 10
months after calving), all the chilling in the world would not
raise all the cream, and in that case the shallow system seems to
l)e better. By heating the milk to about 100 deg. just before set-
ting (done in many cases by adding hot water), this trouble is
partly avoided.
SET ACCORDING TO CONDITIONS.
By keeping the conditions mentioned for these two systems
in mind, we are led to modify them as the French dairymen do
when they set their milk 10 to 12 inches deep in crocks, placed in
nmning water of about 55 to 60 deg. Thus, in the south, where
ice is scarce and a running spring of that temperature, or even 65
or 70 deg., is available, the shallow tin pans should be placed in a
trough through which the water is led, the depth of the milk
26
depending on the temperature. It must be remembered with both
the shallow and deep setting system that the best result is obtained
by "setting" the milk as quickly as possible after milking. Delay,
hauling or shaking in any way will prevent creaming. Nor will
cold air do the same work as water of the same temperature ; and
stone crocks or glass jars will not conduct the cold (or heat) as
quickly as tinned steel or copper.
the: Devonshire: system.
As another distinct system, must be mentioned that of Devon-
shire, where the milk is set in pans from 4 to 6 inches deep for 12
hours. The pans are then placed on the stove (or better still, pro-
vided with a double bottom for hot water) and the temperature
raised to 190 deg., or not quite boiling, after which the pans are
set in the air for another 12 hours. The result is a thick, heavy
cream that may be removed in blocks — the so-called Devonshire
cream.
PRINCIPAL, OP CRE:aMING BY CE:NTRIFUGAIv PORCE:.
Mr. J. D. Frederiksen, in "The Dairy Messenger," explained
the principles of the process in such a clear, condensed manner
that I quote : "Tie a stone to the end of a string, take hold of the
other end of the string and swing it around at a rapid rate. As
the speed increases, the force with which the stone will pull the
string increases at a much greater rate than the speed, and the
weight of the stone seems to increase a hundred fold. This is due
to the centrifugal force, so-called, the tendency of the stone to fly
away from the center of revolution.
"When a particle of matter is swinging round a central pointy
the force b}^ which it presses outward from the center of revolu-
tion depends upon the gravity, the speed and the distance from the
center. Supposing a weight of one pound, zv, to revolve around
an axis, the distance from the center (the radius) being r feet,
and the number of revolutions s hundred a minute, then the cen-
trifugal force /=3.4xRxWxS'?. Consequently, if r is one foot, the-
centrifugal force will be:
For 100 revolutions a minute 3. 4x 1 3.4 pout ds.
•' 200 " «• 3.4x 4 13.fi
• 4('0 " '♦ 3 4x ^6 .54.4
" 1000 " " 3.4x 100 340
'* 5000 ' " 3 4x2500 8500
"In other words, for i,ocx) revolutions a minute, the dis-
tance from the center (r) being i foot, the centrifugal force
'27
is 340 times the weight of the matter; r being 2 feet, it is 680
times; r being 3 feet, it is 1,020 times the weight, etc. Supposing
the weight of a particle of fat in the milk to be 10 weight-units,
and that of an equally large particle of milk serum to be 11
weight-units, then the force by which the fat is naturally driven
towards the surface by gravity only will be 11 — 10=1, while in
the centrifugal machine making 1,000 revolutions a minute, with
an average radius of i ft., the force will be 340x11 — 340x10=
340. Thus the tendency of separation is increased 340 times by
the centrifugal forces, and if the speed is 5,000 revolutions per
minute, the increase will be 8,500 times. This gives an idea of
the efficacy of centrifugal creaming as compared with any gravity
process, and also suggests the enormous strain to which the drum
of a separator is subjected. Supposing a stick to make a thousand
revolutions a minute around its center in the horizontal plane,
at each end carrying a pail with milk weighing 60 pounds, and
supposing the average radius to be 2 feet, then the force with
which each pail will pull the stick is 340x2x60=40,800 lbs., or
about 20 tons."
conde:nse:d history of thk cream separator.
Prof. Fuchs, of Carlsruhe, in 1859, suggested the testing
of milk by swinging it in test tubes. In 1864 Mr. A. Prandtl,
of Munich, experimented .with hanging cylindrical buckets with
milk on a revolving spindle. In 1870, Rev. H. T. Bond, of Massa-
chusetts, had two glass jars fixed on a spindle, revolving only 200
times per minute. In 1873 Mr. Jensen, of Denmark, had two
pails revolving 400 times a minute. In 1872 Prof. Moser showed
a model in Wien, and in 1874, Lefeldt, of Braunschweig, showed
the first large separator. It consisted of a drum provided with a
partial cover and four vertical partitions. It was encased in a
heavy mantle.
The drum revolving 800 times a minute would keep the milk
(220 lbs.) in a vertical position. It took 5 or 10 minutes to get up
full speed, 20 to 30 minutes to separate and '25 to 30 minutes to
come to a standstill again. When the milk had resumed its hori-
zontal position, the cream floated in a heavy layer on top. The
milk was removed with a siphon and the cream drawn through a
valve in the bottom of the drum, which was refilled and the
operation repeated. In 1878 the writer learned to operate this at
28
p
5j
' 9 1
>^«yM«(r
(Fig. 14)
the Kiel City creamery, with the view of using it where ice could
not be obtained and found the efficiency in skimming depended on
the temperature, the speed and the time run.
It did not take long to improve on this crude process and
the first move was to arrange for crowding out the cream when
separated (as shown in Fig. 14), to the right; to the left the
drum is shown at
rest. This al-
lowed the stop-
ping of the drum
by a brake, and
thus shortened
the ope r at ion.
But, Mr. Lefeldt
continued until
in 1883 he had a machine receiving the milk and discharging
the skim milk and cream continuously.
Meanwhile other inventors did not remain idle, and as early
as 1878 and 1879, the ''Danish Weston" (so-called here) in Den-
mark and the DeLaval separators in Sweden were put on the
market. The first had a plate just below the cover, with openings
near the wall, and this forced the skim milk into the upper space,
where a tube caught and discharged it, while another tube caught
the cream below the
plate. (Fig. 15.) This
machine was run at
from 2500 for the large
one to 4500 revolutions
per minute for the small
size power machine.
It had the great ad-
vantage of being able to
elevate the cream, if so desired, 7 to 8
feet.
The DeLaval Separator, on the other
hand, had a smaller drum with a neck.
Fig. 16, and there the skim milk was conducted through a tube
(b) and thrown on a plate cover (B), while the cream rose along
the neck and was thrown through an opening (e) on the plate
(C). A small screw (f) regulated the amount of cream to be
29
taken. The speed of this separator was 7000 revohitions per min-
ute, but operators often ran it up to 9,000 and above.
Among the numerous other machines that have been con-
structed, I mention a Danish one called the "Alexandra," in Eng-
land, the "Balance" in Germany and France and "Jumbo" in
America. The bowl rests loose on the spindle and thus balances
itself. Fig. 17 represents the latest Danish make, which now,
< ^
('Pig. 17)
(Fig. 18)
since the original "Alpha" patents have expired, has been pro-
vided with plates similar to those used in the "Alpha."
In England the Victoria discharges the skim milk at the bot-
tom of the bowl.
In America Sharpies first copied the DeLaval, and later con-
structed the "Russian," in which the bowl is provided with a
steam turbine attachment, and is rotated by steam directly. Later
he introduced his "Tubular" (Fig. 18), in which the bowl,
nearly two feet long and only four inches in diameter, revolves
about 22,000 times a minute, and he has now also put in an
"insert" somewhat like the "Simplex" but with the blades screwed
together.
The original Danish Weston were modified and greatly im-
proved by Messrs. A. H. Reid, Springer and A. H. Barber & Co.,
but is not sold now.
In 1 89 1, the DeLaval Company adopted an improvement
which consists of a series of discs (Fig. 19) which divide the
milk into thin layers and this increases the efficiency of the
30
machine, so as to place it at the head of all in amount of milk
skimmed per horse power used and in close skimming.
It was introduced under the name of "Alpha/' and the work-
(Fig. 19)
ing is nicely illustrated in Fig. 20. The milk and cream
have, so to say, each their own "side-
walk," the milk along the under side and
the cream along the upper side of the
plates as indicated by the arrows; and
thus reach their respective destinations
without jostling each other as in the
case of the old hol-
low bowl separator.
It is true, the price
is somewhat higher
and cleaning may
take a little longer,
but the fact remains
that with the same power no hollow bowl
machine has ever done as good work. The
1910 model of this separator is shown in the hand machine. Fig.
89. It is of interest to note that since the expiration of the Alpha
(Fig. 20)
31
patent some half dozen or more manufacturers have adopted the
diics more or less modified.
The discarding of the old ideas that the capacity of a
separator depended exclusively on the temperature, speed, diame-
ter and depth of the bowl, set many inventors
B^p^ to work experimenting to find a substitute for
^^^^_ the Alpha Discs. Thus Melotte, of France,
inserted a number of polygonal vertical par-
titions in the bowl, but later changed this to
the insert shown in Fig. 21, and the capacity
of the U. S. Separator was increased by divid-
ing the bowl into compartments with two
inner bowls, which caused a sort of triple cur-
rent.
The milk was fed into the top of the cover
where tubes conducted it to the inner cup in
which were wings that caused the milk to re-
volve with it. From here the milk passed into
the intermediate cup and from there into the
main bowl, so that before the milk left the
bowl at the bottom it had passed through three
different compartments. Later the inserts
were changed as shown in Fig. 22.
Lefeldt filled his bowl with curious cellu-
loid tubes ; the "National" used cylindrical par-
titions indented like a pineapple, and A. H.
Reid used corrugated cylinders. (Fig. 92.)
Lately D. H. Burrell & Co., of Little Falls,
N. Y., have introduced the "Simplex" Link
blade, called the "Globe," and other names in
Europe. In these the milk pursues a straight
course from the bottom of the bowl, where it
is delivered by the feed tube, shown to the
right in Fig. 23, to the top where it is thrown
out as separated cream and skim milk.
The linkblades consist of a series of curved steel blades
hinged on bronze rings, so that when taken out of the bowl
they may be washed on both sides as shown in the center of
Fig. 23.
(Fig. 22)
32
Each space between
adjacent blades acts
as an entirely inde-
pendent separating
chamber ; all these
spaces are fed tmij-
(Fig. 23) formly at the bottom,
and as the milk passes up it is gradually separated into the
cream and skim milk, the heavier skim milk particles following
the concave side of the blades in
their upward and outward di-
rection^ and the cream particles
following the convex side in their
progress upward and inward to the
cream outlet.
In Fig. 24 I illustrate the No. 3
turbine "Simplex" with a capacity
of 1,800 lbs. The "Crown" Sep-
arator made in Sweden had per-
forated decagon inserts, but the
latest power machines have pyra-
mids, reminding of the Alpha sys-
tem, but the plates are deeper and
have small openings near the top
of each angle.
The "Empire," made in Bloom-
field, N. J., is virtually the same
(Fig. 24) as the Crown.
Finally the Burmeister and Wain Co. of Denmark, having
given up the old "D. W." now make the "Perfect," with virtually
"Alpha" plates and a self-balancing bowl patent Knudsen — a
standard machine. Hand separators are shown in Figs. 89, 90,
91 and 92.
CHOOSING A SEPARATOR.
As to the choice of separators, no absolute rules can be
laid down. ]\Iost of the hollow bowls skim so as to leave not
more than 0.2, possibly 0.3 per cent, of fat in the skim milk, while
those wuth inserts skim to between o.i and 0.2, by chemical
analysis, and 0.05 to "trace" by the Babcock. Latest tests of the
most modern makes show only 0.06 per cent, and 0.08 per cent.
33
by the Gottlieb method of analyzing. An extra loss of o.i to 0.2
per cent, means the loss of from i to 2 lbs. of butter for every
thousand pounds of milk; if the amount skimmed is so small
that the difference in the interest on the original cost is enough
to equal the loss of fat, then there would be nothing gained in
paying a high price for a close skimming machine. But in cream-
eries, where the difference between the close-skimming of the
separators on the market may make a difference of from 500 to
3,000 lbs. of butterfat, or, say, from $75 up to $600 a year, it is
cheaper to buy the very best, even if the old ones must be thrown
away. Nor must it he forgotten that there also may be a differ-
ence in the individual machines of the same make.
But there are also other considerations, the durability of
the machine, cost of repairs, ease of cleaning and power re-
quired. Nor is a test of the skim milk enough. If the construc-
tion is such as to retain part of the cream in the bowl in a more
or less unavailable shape, this loss should be calculated. Again,
if all the skim milk is to be used for cheese or for human con-
sumption, the fat left in it will have its full value and it matters
less whether the separator leaves 0.05 or 0.25 per cent, of fat in
it. If the milk is pasteurized (heated to 160 deg.) and run hot
through the machine, the difference between the hollow bowl ma-
chines and the others will be reduced to a minimum as far as
close skimming is concerned.
Whenever agents of rival machines are making compara-
tive tests, care should be taken to see that the milk has the same
temperature, that the speed and the amount of milk run in a cer-
tain time are exactly as claimed, that the test run is made as long as
the longest run intended. (Fifteen minutes may leave very little
fat in the skim milk, while an hour may leave much more), and
that no juggling is done with the test. The double-neck Ohlson
or the Wagner test bottle should be used, not the common Bab-
cock. If you know a disinterested mechanical expert you can
rely on, get his- opinion as to durability of the competing machines.
COMPARING the: VARIOUS CRE^AMING SYSTEMS.
There is not a centrifugal separator on the market that is not
far ahead of either shallow or deep-setting, even though these,
under favorable conditions, for a short time each season, may
leave as little fat in the skim milk as do the poorest separators p
34
the "average" will, at best, be about 0.5 per cent, and under unfav-
orable conditions go as high as i per cent. Experiments made by-
Prof. Fjord showed that even the original, self-skimming but
crude, Lefeldt machine (with hollow bowl) gave more butter in
per cent, as follows :
Ice System— Msiy, 8.3; June, 7.3; July, 4.5; August, 3.1;
September, 3.7; October, 18. i ; November, 28.0; December, 17.8;
January, 7.6; February, 3.8; March, 3.7; April, 4.1.
Shallow Tubs — May, 10.4; June, 9.6; July, 13.8; August,
ii.o; September, 16.0; October, 14.9; November, 15.6; December,
13.1 ; January, 8.8; February, 5.4; March, 6.0; April, 6.4.
It is perfectly safe to calculate an increase of 10 per cent, on
the yearly butter yield whenever a separator is used instead of the
other systems, even under the most favorable conditions.
With either of the other systems the cream will not rise as
well, if the setting is delayed or the milk shaken by transporta-
tion, but with the separator it does not matter nearly as much, nor
will the period of lactation affect the separator much. We may
have to reduce the flow a little — that is all.
It may be pertinent here to refer to the fact, shown by Dr.
Barthel, that if milk has been agitated violently by running
through a heater with fast revolving dashers- or by being pumped
up or elevated by a steam jet, the separators will not skim it as
close as usual.
Tests have proved that cream and milk are purified by the sep-
aration which leaves a sediment on the bowl and in this may be
found not only dirt and scales, which pass through the strainers,
but also a considerable proportion of germs and bacteria, notably
those of tuberculosis.
Add to this the increased value of skim milk, when we are
able to feed it warm as it comes from the cow, and it is evident
that no private dairyman having 5 to 10 good cows can afford to
be without a separator.
cre:aming systems that are failures.
It would not be necessary to mention these if it were not for
the fact that several otherwise respectable agricultural papers
have run the advertisement of several such, and that even dairy
papers are sometimes induced to give them space.
'Thus we had, some years ago, the vacuum system, by which a
small air pump exhausted the air from the milk can. This, like
35
creaming by an electric current, was, however, a short-lived de-
lusion, and so was the famous Berrigan Separator, in which the
air pump was used to create a pressure in the milk can and the
milk diluted with 20 per cent, of water. The Cornell and Wis-
consin Universities disposed of this. The former reported the
tests showing the percentage of fat in the skim milk to be :
Laval Baby N2 0.09
Cooley, set at 40 deg 0.29
Berrigan Separator 0,59
Not only was it a failure, but it was an attempt to deceive
by using the word ''Separator."
Creaming by dilution was attempted 41 years ago in Denmark
and Germany, and many "practical" farmers reported good re-
sults, but that was in the ante-Babcock days.
Drs. Martini and Peters (Germany) tried it in 1869, and
found that while apparently more cream was raised the cream
contained less butterfat than that from undiluted milk, thus ex-
plaining the fallacious result claimed.
Every now and then during the last twenty years our agri-
cultural papers have passed around notices of the wonderful bene-
fit of dilution, various experiment stations took up the experi-
ments, and while not all in accord, the results were not favorable
to the process. Indeed the only experiments favorable to dilution
that I recall are those reported in Bulletin 79, Cornell, which seem
to indicate that while there is no benefit from diluting with cold
water, some gain was observed from diluting with 25 per cent, of
water at 135 deg. But, as there was a considerable difference in
the temperature of the diluted and undiluted milk when "set" and
the latter had the benefit of the higher temperature, those expri-
ments are of but little value.
When comparing two methods, we must have all conditions
alike, but the one to be tested ; this is where many "practical" and,
I regret to say, even some of the scientific experiments fail.
Theoretically, the addition of water, temperatures being kept
the same, should rather delay the creaming, as it reduces the dif-
ference in the specific gravity, but if there is a benefit the ex-
planation may lie in its preventing or delaying the coagulation of
the fibrin discovered by Dr. Babcock.
The advertisements referred to are those of the "Hydraulic/'
the ''Aquatic" and other "Separators" (sic) which all profess to
be patented and consist of a large can with a faucet into which the
36
dilution water is introduced at the bottom through a funnel or
otherwise. The whole apparatus is sold for about four times its
actual cost and farmers are misled by the term separator into^
comparing the low (?) price of $io to $20, with that of $65 for
the centrifugal separator. They have no more right to the name-
of separator than a shot-gun can. To this class belongs also the
"Automatic" separator, which is a tube for distributing the water
at the bottom of a can.
While most of these fakes are driven out of the market, there are
still advertised in many agricultural papers so-called "separators"
and "extractors," which consist of a peculiar shaped can inserted
in another of galvanized iron. I illustrate in Fig. 26 the cross-
sections of some of these cans and while they may not be called
frauds my readers will notice at a glance that a common round
can set in a barrel or in another round can with ice water will do
equally good work and be easier to clean, while the cost is only-
one-third or one-fourth.
(Fig. 26)
CHAPTER IV.
HEATING THE MILK
pre:paring thi: milk for separation.
On the farm the milk is in its very best condition for separa-
tion immediately after milking, and the warm skim milk is then
at its best for feeding purposes. Indeed, where convenient and
where the separator is not too far from the stable it may be started
as soon as the milkers are far enough ahead to keep it going and
the milk may thus be strained directly into the separator tank, and
thus save the cleaning of an extra vessel. But the separation
should never be done in the stable or anywhere where smells and
dust may contaminate the cream. If, by some accident, the supply
of milk should not be kept up, a little water or skim milk should be
run through the separator to drive out the cream. If the night's
milk is not separated till morning it should be warmed to 80 or 90
degrees. This is essential with all hollow bowl separators, and
only in a less degree with the others.
At the creameries the heating of the milk is an important
function and is but seldom done in a satisfactory, uniform man-
ner. The two principal systems used are, either heating the milk
in a large body in the receiving vat, or passing it through some
heatmg apparatus on its way from there to the separator. The
danger of the first lies in the keeping of the — already old — milk
at a high temperature and thus souring and developing bad flavors,
and of the second, in the fact that the fat does not take the heat as
quickly as the "serum" and thus the true temperature desired is
not obtained, and also in the fact that no automatic regulator has
been employed that would keep the milk from varying consider-
ably. I have thus, even in good creameries, observed a variation
of 10 deg. with heaters like Fig. 2y.
f
THE HEATERS.
Most of the heaters used in our American creameries were
similar to Fig. 27, which represents an improvement on the so-
called "Danish Weston" heaters, but unless they are made
37
38
large enough they are not at all satisfactory. I presume their
popularity lay in the fact that it requires only a few inches drop
from the receiving vat
to the separator. Sim-
ilarly the 'Xarkin's"
heater, a direct steam
heater on the pipe con-
ducting the milk from
the vat to the separator,
requires no drop at all
and has been endorsed
by many good makers,
but I cannot say that I
like the application of direct steam in any manner. There is al-
ways a certain risk of contamination, even if no boiler compound
makes it a certainty.
Far better to use the heaters — even if more expensive — as
represented by the Fjord Heater (Fig. 28). This consists of a
strong wooden barrel D in which a tinned copper vessel C is in-
serted. A stirring apparatus K prevents the milk, which enters
at M through H, from scorch-
ing on the side. Steam is in-
troduced by F if exhaust, and
E if direct steam is used. Con-
densed water escapes through
G. The milk outlet (not
shown in the illustration) is^
above the wood.
This, with modifications
and improvements, has been
the common heater used in
Europe and now elevates the
milk to the separator, but the
dashers must not revolve too
fast so as to lessen the "skim-
ability" of the milk. (See
page 34.)
The DeLaval Company
have a neat Httle turbine heat- ^^^^' '
er, and so have the Jensen Mfg. Co., of Topeka, Kan., and Mr. A.
H. Reid has copied the improved Danish. (Fig. 78.)
39
D. H. Burrell & Co. have put on the market a very good
heater, and in Fig. 29 I show it taken apart for cleaning. This is
claimed to heat up to
7,500 lbs. per hour.
The Creamery Pack-
age Mfg. Co. have in
their 20th century heat-
er (Fig. 30) an evolu-
tion of the Streckeisen
open air milk condenser.
The Root Heater is a
new construction of
which I have no experi-
ence or report, but re-
minds of the Miller
Tyson pasteurizer. In-
deed it may be said that
all pasteurizing heaters
make good heaters for
separating, but I hope
,^. „,,, to see the day when au-
(Fig. 29) . , -^ ,
tomatic heat-regulators
will be used in connection with all heaters.
|l|| nmmAi
(Fig. 30)
tion.
I illustrate the one made by F. Casse which gives satisfac-
Fig. 31 shows a horizontal and two vertical cross-sections —
£^F
40
cross-section C-D and E-F. A piece of the pipe by which the milk
or cream is elevated from the
pasteurizing heater is cut and
the larger pipe (a) is substi-
tuted, so that the milk comes
from the heater at (b) and
leaves at (c). In this way the
warm milk in rising surrounds
the copper tube (d) ; this tube
contains a mixture of ether and
glycerin; the former floating on
top being evaporated by the heat
from the milk and the pressure
thus created (which is correla-
tive to the temperature of the
milk) acts on glycerin and, (pig. 31)
through this, on the rubber diaphragm (g) and the piston (p).
From this piston the pressure is carried through the lever (q)
to the spiral spring in the compartment (h). This spring may be
loosened or tightened by the wheel (i) and thus the resistance of
the piston (p) against the ether pressure may be regulated.
The lower part (r) of the piston (p) forms a valve which,
when the piston is pressed down, shuts off the steam which enters
at (o) and leaves for the heater at (m). In order that the reg-
ulator shall not weigh down the steam pipe a pipe support is
screwed into the lower part (k). When the rubber diaphragm
has to be renewed (which Mr. Casse claims is only a few times a
year) the piece (e) is removed, allowing the ether and glycerin
to run out, the old rubber diaphragm (g) is removed and the
piston (p) taken out and wiped off. The valve is cleaned and the
piston replaced, the new diaphragm put in and the piece (e) is
held with the opening up (f, Fig. 2) so that it may be filled first
with a small quantity of pure glycerin and then with ether. The
opening (f) is closed with a small cork so as to hold the ether
and glycerin, while the piece (e) is replaced and bolted. When
the regulator is heated up the bolts should be tightened, if neces-
sary. As soon as the ether expands the little cork is forced out
and the glycerin runs out and presses on the diaphragm.
It must be observed that it is necessary, to insure good work,
that the copper tube (d) is cleaned every day and kept free from
the inevitable film of dried on milk. To do this is easy as the
elevating pipe (a) may be removed by loosening the union (1).
41
fii.te:ring milk for se:paration.
The milk is generally strained into the receiving vat in a more
or less, generally less, effective manner, through muslin, and if all
the patrons sent absolutely clean milk, even this might be omitted,
yet the average condition of the milk I have seen received at our
•creameries has led me to consider the advisability of filtering it.
For this purpose the "International" Filter would be the best of
those I know of, but whatever is used, strainer or filter, it will be
.a delusion and a snare if not kept absolutely clean and — after all —
the game is not worth the candle.
In running the milk from the heaters to the separator it is a
very bad practice to use rubber hose, and even common galvanized
pipes should be condemned. Take exact measures and have cop-
per or brass tubing, heavily tinned, made to fit the distance, joined
with unions, and do not have any one piece longer than 4 feet,
so as to make cleaning easy. The extra cost will be as nothing
compared with the advantage. It is a pleasure to note here that
the past year (1909) has been conspicuous by the advertising and
selling of more or less real sanitary fittings.
CHAPTER V.
CREAM RIPENING
If cream is churned perfectly sweet it will have a very faint
aroma and an insipid taste, and the demand for such butter is~
very limited. For this reason, all those who have no special orders^
for it should ripen the cream before churning.
NO UNIFORM RULE:S POSSIBLE).
It is evident that if we desire to churn the cream at a certain?
degree of acidity (and age) our treatment of the cream must vary
according to the system by which it was raised. It stands to rea-
son that cream which has been raised for 36 hours in a shallow
pan, perhaps not skimmed until the milk was loppered, needs
not the same treatment as that whirled out of a separator within an
hour of milking time. Then, again, that raised in ice water needs
a modification in its treatment, just as cream in a separator cream-
ery must be treated differently from that in a gathered cream
creamery. A difference must also be made if we churn every day
or only every other day or once a week.
BUTTER FI^AVOR AND COMPOSITION 01^ BUTTKR^AT.
As indicated, the object of ripening is to develop that
peculiar aromatic flavor which is characteristic of all fine butter.
But what really causes this flavor is as yet a mooted question^
among scientists.
Years ago when the chemists ruled the roost, the flavor in
butter was credited exclusively to the so-called volatile fatty acids.
Butterfat, it must be understood, consists mainly of Palmitin,.
Stearin and Olein, which may be found, more or less, in nearly
all animal fats ; butter contains, however, six other substances.
Some of the "fatty acids" are volatile, and it was maintained
by chemists that the action of the casein and milk sugar in the
butter on these "fatty acids" developed various fine odors which*
soon turned into the disagreeable, rancid odor and taste.
Later the bacteriologists claimed that the aromatic flavor was-
42
43
simply due to certain microbes, and at one time the hope was held
forth that the dairymen could be supplied a "pure culture" which
would provide the desired flavor.
In this we have been disappointed up to date, and it proved
true that the question was not quite so simple, and that flavor de-
pends on more than one breed of microbes. This is, in my
opinion, a good thing for the dairymen, because if the develop-
ment of flavor could be made such simple and exact science the
creameries might as well leave butter-making in the hands of the
packers.
To me — as a layman — the theories of the chemists and bac-
teriologists seem to supplement each other and confirm my prac-
tical experience in buttermaking. It matters not to me whether
the flavor is the result of the action of certain microbes or that of
their chemical products on certain parts of the butterfat, but prac-
tical experience tells us that the chemists must be right in so far
that the desired flavor is developed in the manufacture. Pure but-
ter oil has little or no flavor, sweet cream butter but a trifle more
and the more we ripen the cream (up to a certain point) the more
we increase this flavor. On the other hand we also know that
feed and external conditions have some influence on the flavor and
that June and July butter is ahead of winter butter.
Analyses have shown (Fleischmann quoting Bussaingault) that
summer butter contains 40 per cent, hard fats and 60 per cent,
soft, while winter butter contains 65 as against 35 ; hence, the
latter is much firmer and stands up better.
Other chemists have also shown that, for instance, feeding
an excess of cotton seed meal will increase the percentage of hard
fats (Palmitin and Stearin) and linseed meal will decrease them.
Hence the now well-known variation in churning temperatures
and firmness of the butter.
Danish experiments have shown that leaving cows out in the
fields in stormy and rainy fall weather will have the result that,
even if they are fed exactly the same as those comfortably stabled,
the percentage of volatile fatty acids is reduced to such an ex-
tent that English chemists suspected the butter to be adulterated
and practical butter experts scored it low in flavor even if the
cream had been ripened to the same degree in both cases. (Hence,
the general complaint in fall of "wintry" flavor on our markets).
It seems to me that the theories of the chemists agree per-
fectly with the experience of the practical buttermakers.
44
The chemists attempted to produce a "butter flavor," but they
liave not been able to provide oleomargarine with the desired
aromatic flavor any more than the bacteriologists. Nevertheless,
the latter have — by combining more than one breed of bacteria —
succeeded in producing commercial "starters" which, when made
by reliable firms, give a uniform and satisfactory result, but in
no way better than that obtained from good home made "starters."
Where uniformity is of importance the commercial starters are
to be recommended. We have Hansen's Lactic Ferment, Douglas
Butter Culture, B 41, Keith's and Ericsson's Cultures in the mar-
ket here.
While introducing these, a great deal of educational work has
"been done by the various firms, showing the buttermakers the
great importance of the ripening process, and thus in reality re-
ducing the variation in flavor caused by feed, climate and period
of lactation, but only in one case (Iowa Experiment Station)
have tests been made resulting in the assertion that the difference
may be wiped out altogether by careful high ripening, that, in
other words, just as fine flavored butter can be made from strip-
pers' milk as from that of fresh milking cows; but these results
have as far as I know, not been confirmed.
Yet, the fact remains that cream-ripening is the most im-
portant part of buttermaking, and that, as I said years ago about
•cheesemaking, ''Acidity — like salt and charity — covers a multitude
of sins."
RIPENING CRKAM ON THK FARM.
Let us now come down to the practical handling of cream on
a small farm. A common way is to keep the cream in a stone
jar, and, if any attempt is made at ripening, to place it near the
kitchen stove. Stone jars, if there are no cracks in the glazing,
are all right, but not very convenient to handle, and especially
troublesome when it is desired to change the temperature. Take
it all in all, there is nothing better than a clean, heavily-tinned
and smoothly soldered steel or copper can. In this the tempera-
ture of the cream may easily be changed by placing the can in a
larger one or in a tub with water. The warmer the water the
more important it is to stir the cream so as not to overheat part
of it. It is safest not to have the water more than 120 or 140 deg.
When the right temperature is obtained the can should be
45
placed in a box or barrel large enough to have about six inches
insulating material (hay will do) round the can so that the
temperature may be kept from falling much, even if we have to-
keep the can in a very cold room, kitchen, damp cellars and living
rooms being barred.
When it is desired to cool it, the can is simply placed in a bar-
rel of cold water and kept there, changing the water or adding
ice as needed.
This is the simplest and cheapest way which any one could
desire, but, if we can afford it, the hay box may be replaced by
one into which a can (large enough to hold the cream can) is per-
manently fixed, keeping the insulating material in place and having
an insulated cover. Or, in a larger dairy, the Boyd farm cream
vat (Fig. 32) may be used. The vat is insulated with felting and
the temperature is changed by swinging a tinpail (with either hot
or cold water) in the cream. Or we may have a little square or
round vat made on the plan of creamery vats, all according to our
means, as long as we keep in mind the necessity of being able ta
change the temperature at will and maintain it without too much
trouble.
If churning only twice or three times a week, the object must
be to keep the cream as cool as pos-
sible, up to within 12 or 18 hours
of churning time. The warm sep-
arator cream should be cooled be-
fore adding it to the previous lot
in the can. Another way, where
there is plenty of ice at hand, is to
let the cream become nearly ripe
and then cool it down to 45 deg.
and keep it there, when it may safe-
ly be kept for 24 hours.
If shallow pan cream is used the
cream will be nearly ripe and, as a
rule, will be ready to churn 12
hours after adding the last batch without raising the tempera-
ture. It may indeed rather be necessary to provide for cooling it
so as to secure the desired churning temperature. Cream of dif-
ferent ages should never be churned together, without having
been mixed together for at least 6, better 12 hours, and it should
be well stirred as each batch is added.
(Fig. 32)
.^^^^'^
46
If cold water or ice deep-setting cream is used, it may be kept
in the same cold water tank until 12 hours before churning and
then the temperature should be raised to 60 or 70 deg. either in
the manner before suggested or by heating the last cream (but
not higher than 100 deg.) before adding it. If this is done, it is
well to do a little calculating. Let us say that we have the cream
from three milkings, in all 30 lbs., and find the temperature to be
50 deg. and that we have to raise it 15 deg. This is 15x30, or 450
heat units. Divide them with the weight of the last cream (10
lbs.) and we find that this must be heated 45 deg. above 65 deg.
or to no deg. in order to get all to 65 deg. Remember to make
sure of the temperature by reading the thermometer twice with
5 or 10 minute interval. With separator cream the last batch
should be added 20 to 24 hours before churning, and, as a rule,
a little higher temperature should be used, say 65 to 75 deg. If
we use a "starter" 60 to 65 deg. may be enough.
It will then be seen that no fixed temperature can be given.
We want to reach a certain degree of acidity and if the original
acidity (system of raising or age of cream or addition of a
"starter") is the same then the temperature to be used depends,
within certain limits, on the time we desire to devote to it. Per-
sonally, I prefer the given temperature for farm work so as to
get the cream ripe for churning in 6 to 12 hours for shallow and
deep-setting and 18 to 22 hours for separator cream.
cre:am-ripe:ning in cre:amkri:e:s.
It will, however, also depend on the facilities we have for
cooling the cream just before churning. Thus I know creameries
that use 48 hours and a temperature of only 50 to 55 deg. with
good success, and while I consider that temperature conducive
to development of poor flavors, there are creameries where the
practical exigencies demand it on account of lack of cooling
facilities.
Where the very best cooling facilities exist, I would much
prefer to hasten the ripening and use even a higher temperature
than mentioned above, let us say between 75 and 85 deg., which,
together with a "starter," will nearly ripen the cream in from
6 to 7 hours and thus allow it to be cooled to 60 or 55 deg. before
bed time, and then ripen fully while cooling further during the
night. As a rule one hour's cooling in the morning will then
bring it down to the lowest desired churning temperature.
47
The common cream vats used in American creameries up to
six or eight years ago were the rectangular tin vats hung in a
wooden, watertight tank, which allow for a space with hot or cold
water. Some of them are provided with space into which to put
ice. Some are made U shaped and these are better still, and
others, the twin vats, have two narrow vats in one jacket. (Fig.
33). It is evident that a large body of cream is only slowly
heated or cooled in these and that constant stirring is necessary,
(Fig. 33)
hence we find that many makers are obliged — often against their
better conviction — to use ice directly in the cream. If perfectly
pure ice (made from distilled water) is used, and it is crushed
fine and kept stirred until dissolved or nearly so, there is no harm
done. But pond and stagnant river ice is a fearful source of all
kinds of contamination and, if it is left in large lumps without
stirring, the cream will be unevenly ripened, so that this system
of cooling should be discouraged.
The fact is that the question of giving the creamery butter-
maker complete and quick control of the temperature in his cream
has not as yet been solved satisfactorily, but since the introduction
of refrigerator machines a very great step ahead has been taken.
Thus the cream room itself can now be kept at a uniform tempera-
ture of 50 to 60 deg. (instead of 70 to 90) and there the tempera-
ture of a large vat of cream will not rise or fall much during the
night.
As to the cooling in the vat various systems have been tried.
In one creamery they tried to cool it with the air by having the
vats without jacket, but experience taught them what they might
have known, that air does not conduct the heat (or cold) as well
as water.
Others have placed ammonia coils in the water space of the
48
jacketed vats, and that has done fairly well, though it were bet-
ter still to have the vats of tinned copper in which case brine
could be circulated and the cooling done much quicker, but the
cream must be stirred in both cases until the desired tempera-
ture is reached.
Cooling the cream to ripening temperature, even if as low as
60 degrees, is the simplest matter and can best be done by sub-
stituting an improved Baer Cooler for the conductor from the
separator to the vat. In this way hundreds of creameries could
cool and aerate the cream sufficiently even
with water. If it is made of copper the brine
system may also be applied. In Fig. 34 the
cross-section shows the corrugated surface
which compels the milk to run in the little
gutters and increases the cooHng surface, a?
well as the partitions (p) which turn the cur-
rent of the water which flows as the arrows
show on the exposed part of the sketch. The
cream flows, of course, in the opposite direc-
tion and on a length of 8 feet, 2 inch drop
is fully enough; indeed, they may. be placed
nearly level. I cannot recommend these cool-
ers too much where the cream is not too rich,
and where the air is pure.
The great trouble is to change the tempera-
ture in a large vat of ripened or nearly rip-
ened cream with reasonable dispatch.
It is done in some creameries by having an
extra cream vat and pumping the cream to be
cooled over a direct expansion (or brine)
cooler.
In 1897 I suggested to use vats (holding
one churning only, say 1,500 lbs.) on large
castors in a refrigerated cream-room. The
cream being cooled te ripening temperature on its way from the
separator, is, when nearly ripe, elevated on a large elevator and
run over a cooler L into an extra vat. When churning time comes
the vat is again elevated and the cream run through a conductor
to the adjacent churn room. The advantage is to have no pumps
and yet have everything on one floor, the disadvantage is the cost
of elevator. The system has not been tested in practice. In Den-
(Fig. 34)
49
mark hydraulic elevators are used in several creameries ; they are
either fixed or on wheels (see Fig. 35) so they may be run into the
refrigerated cream room, v^hereby the same result is obtained.
Of other cream vats should be mentioned the Boyd vat, Fig.
36, in which a coil moves slowly back and forth. (Mr. H. B.
Gurler, I beheve, first constructed and uses even now, one in
which the coil, hung by its four corners, is lifted up and down,
and that style is now sold under the name of the McAreavy
Cream Cooler.) Hot or cold water or brine is passed through
the coil. Mr. Boyd had
no water space, but in-
sulating felt around the
vat; he also made
''Starter" or Fermenting
cans as shown in Fig. 32,
and part of his system
(Tig. 80) ' is to close up the cream
air-tight and not stir at all while ripening. With perfect milk
this is all right, but at our cream-
eries where the milk is often far
from perfect, I prefer stirring and
aeration, especially during the first
hours.
Another cream-ripener, as these
vats are miscalled, was the "Far-
rington," an evolution of the
"Potts" pasteurizer.
Finally we have the Jensen, with
(Fig. 36) a spiral coil, the Miller, the "Wiz-
ard" vat (Fig. 88) and the "Simplex" (Fig. 37.)
Control of temperature and ease of keeping everything most
scrupulously clean are the most important requisites, and, if an
acid test is used, the maker should have no difficulty in securing
uniform results in ripening.
As soon as all the cream is in the vat see that the temperature
is right and take the degree of acidity of the cream and of the
"starter" if such is used, also the temperature in the room. Add
starter as experience has taught you will be needed and stir
thoroughly. Stir every half hour or so for the first 3 or 4 hours.
In the evening before leaving it for the night, take the tempera-
tures in cream and room as well as the acidity of the cream. If
50
needed, raise or lower the temperature so as to have it right next
morning. After some practice you will soon be able so to regulate
matters that you will not only have the right acidity but also
nearly the right temperature within half an hour or so of the time
you want it.
SIGNS OF RIPENESS.
To tell in printer's
ink when cream is
ripe is very hard; the
nearest I can get is
that it should have a
clean, pleasant acid
taste and smell and a
smooth, even, syrup-
like consistency, so as
to run evenly and
— -.^^,, ,^^.^^ g^^ smoothly from the
stirring paddle and
have a peculiar, glossy surface. But even the finest nose and
palate may get out of order, and hence the Mann's (Fig. 38) or
Prof. Farrington's acid test should be used in creameries. In
dairies I do not recommend it for other than experimental pur-
poses. To get the highest flavor. Prof. G. L. McKay has
found that 35 to 38 cc. is the best, and I have had good results
between 33 and 39 cc. The former is about 0.65 to 0.68 per cent,
acid, whereas Prof. Farrington recommends 0.6 per cent.
When we speak about cc. it means that it takes so many
cubic centimeters of i-io normal alkali to bring out a pink color
in 50 cc. milk or cream, to which has been added a few drop<
''indicator."
I refer to the book on "Milk Testing'' and shall only lay
stress on the fact that the test can be used only as a guide for
comparing our own work, and even then we must look out for
two causes of variation — richness of the cream and the weaken-
ing of the normal. In comparing with others we have these
troubles as well as that of the variation in the eyesight. Hence,
no rules can be laid down any more than for temperature used.
The Mann's test might well be modified to use only 10 cc.
and thus not use so much cream, and to read off the per cent,
acid at once.
51
STARTERS.
Commercial starters have been mentioned
before and the manufacturers give full
directions for use. Remains only to suggest
the making of a good home-made one.
The milk used should be from a fresh-
milking, healthy cow and extra care taken
to secure it in a cleanly manner. Run it
through the separator before the other milk
(so as to haVe the machine clean), condemn
the first quart or so run through and gather
as much as needed in a carefully cleaned
and boiled can. Or, set it in ice water for
12 hours in a boiled can, skim the cream
and dip out what's needed without disturb-
ing the bottom layer, for fear there might
be some sediment.
Skim milk thus secured is better than
new milk, but if either of these two skim-
ming systems cannot be used it is better
to use new milk.
(Fig. 38) Regulate the temperature (in a hot wa-
ter bath) to 85 or 90 deg. and place the can in a hay box, or where
the temperature will not drop below 75 deg. and leave it undis-
turbed until loppered. It should be watched so that when lop-
pered it may be used soon after, or removed at once to a refriger--
ator or hung in ice water. Care should be taken not to shake '^^
disturb it, so as to break the curd and let out whey. If thus chilled
at once it may be kept in good condition if undisturbed for oa
hours or more.
When it is wanted for use, skim an inch off the top (as this may
have become contaminated), dip out all but the bottom layer, and
stir it up well so as to have a homogeneous, smooth mass, which
should have a clean, sharp acid taste, and a pleasant aroma, and,
if, when first cut, it showed a clean solid face without bubbles or
pinholes, it should be all right. If it is in any way tainted, con-
demn it and ripen the cream at a higher temperature without
starter.
In creameries where they cannot get enough "perfect" milk
to make the starter, it is better to get a quart or two from two or
52
three of the best patrons, and thus prepare two or three ''mother*'
starters and, when coagulated, select the best to use in developing
the starter by taking sufficient of the regular skim milk and heat-
ing it to i8o or 190 deg., keeping it so for 20 minutes and cooling
it to about 90 deg. and adding 5 to 10 per cent, of "mother start-
er" prepared as above described. In 24 hours there will be enough
"starter" besides ten per cent, to develop enough for next day's
use with another batch of pasteurized skim milk, and so on.
For creamery use there are now in the market several
"starter" cars of more or less merit. They are really a sort of
pasteurizer where the cooling is rather slow.
I mention the "Haugdahl,"^ the "Jensen" and illustrate the
"Victor," Fig. 39.
Take care not to fall into a rut and use the starter auto-
matically. This refers to all starters.
Add the desired amount to the cream and stir well, perhaps
a little more during the first hour or so than when no starter is
used.
If today's butter is perfect it is
safe to preserve some buttermilk
free from salt and water (by chill-
ing in ice water immediately after
churning), and use that as a start-
er; but, it is evident that if there
is any fault in today's butter the
buttermilk will perpetuate that fault
even if next day's cream is perfect.
There is the same objection to
using part of today's ripened cream
as a starter for the next batch, nor
do I believe that cream makes as
nice flavored a starter as skim
milk.
Thus "many roads lead to Rome"
even in the matter of "starters,"
I do not believe in using more than
3 or 4 per cent, for unpasteurized cream, and 8 to 10 for pas-
teurized, but I should always use more starter for a very rich
cream than for a thin one, and still more when trying to improve
gathered cream.
The Canadians have lately claimed a great deal for a new
system of cream ripening or rather butter ripening, whereby
the starter is prepared the day before and added to the cream (as
soon as it has been skimmed and cooled to churning temperature)
when put in the churn. This has the advantage of saving the
work in watching the cream from one day to the other, but I con-
fess to some dread lest we lose control of the ripening if we rely
on its progress in the butter. I shall require more evidence before
I am converted to that system.
OFig. 30)
and judgment must be used
CHAPTER VI.
CHURNS AND CHURNING.
THE THEORY OF CHURNING.
The oldest theory of the churning process was that the Httle
fat globules in the milk were covered with a membrane which had
to be torn before the globules would adhere together and form
butter granules (pellets). This should be done in the churn
and it was also claimed (Romanets) that the souring of the cream
would dissolve this membrane or skin. This theory was upheld
to the last by the late Prof. Arnold.
Later it was disproved in several ways by various scientists,
while the practical makers went on and found that having the
cream of a certain ripeness and temperature, they could, as a rule,
rely on the butter ''coming" on time. (Speaking of temperatures
it is amusing to notice how in olden time the "wise women" used
to drive the witches out of the cream by putting in red hot horse-
shoes in it.)
Later, again, Dr. Storch (Denmark) published the result of
a long series of investigations, and concludes as follows : "If the
old theory of a membrane round the globules is not adopted, then
the only explanation is that the serum in the cream is split up in
two parts during churning, one, containing more albuminates, go-
ing into the butter, and the other, containing less, forming the
serum of the buttermilk."
But we need not bother our brains about these theories, it
matters not whether a membrane exists or whether simply the
serum adhering to the globules is of a different composition,
though it seems to me the latter theory is indirectly confirmed by
Dr. Babcock, who asserts that the small amount of fibrin in the
milk has a tendency to adhere to the globules and delay the
creaming.
CHURNING TEMPERATURES.
The various conditions which have influence on the choice
of the churning temperature may be classed as follows :
(i.) The composition of the hutterfat. (a) Different
breeds seem to produce butter of different firmness, thus the
Jerseys give the firmest butter and require a higher churning
temperature — all other conditions being equal, (b) The longer
53
54
the cow has been in calf the firmer becomes the butterfat and
hence the churning temperature must be higher, (c) Effect of
feed is illustrated in the cotton belt where excessive feeding of
cotton seed makes a churning temperature of 70 to 'JT. degrees
not uncommon, (d) Different seasons.
(2.) The acidity of cream. Prof. Fjord demonstrated years
ago that sweet cream must be churned at a lower temperature
than that ripened — all other conditions being the same.
(3.) The richness of the cream has also an influence in so
far that a rich cream (say with 25 to 35 per cent, fat) may be
churned at a much lower temperature than a thin one (below 20
per cent.) and thus, reduce the loss in buttermilk. This Mr. H.
B. Gurler demonstrated first, churning the former as low as 46 to
50 deg., while the latter cannot be churned much below 56 deg. ; if
too cold it will foam.
(4.) Construction of the churn as well as speed and amount
of cream in the churn should also be considered in determining
the starting temperature, as the heat produced by the different
mechanical actions may vary greatly.
(5.) The temperature in the room should also be considered
in choosing the starting temperature of the cream, and not only
made a trifle lower in a warm room than in a cold one, but the
churn itself must either be- cooled or warmed or elsd the difference
in the starting temperature must be made greater. It is indeed
also necessary to have the finishing temperature vary a little ac-
cording to that of the room.
It is thus shown that no fixed rules can be laid down, yet the
limits may be said to be from 56 to 70 degs. for cream testing 20
per cent, or below, and from 48 to 60 degs. for rich cream. I be-
lieve that when it is found necessary to use the highest tempera-
tures the butter will be "steariny" and, as a rule, deficient in
flavor. Experience will soon teach us the right one and as a gen-
eral proposition churning should be finished in from 20 to 60
minutes to get the best result.
The thermometer may be wrong, indeed I have found them
to vary 10 deg., and hence the necessity of finding the right
temperature by the thermometer in use. It is well — if it can be
afforded — to buy a standard certified thermometer at $1 or $1.50,
and hang in the parlor in order to compare the cheap ones in use
at various temperatures. But it should not be exposed to repeated
and violent changes as that will spoil the best one in the course
55
of time. Of the cheap ones I prefer a plain glass one (floating)
to those fixed on wood or metal — they are easier to clean.
CHURNS.
I doubt if there is any other implement on which more patents
have been taken than on the churn, thus in the United States
2,955 were taken out from 1800 to 1904, and yet how few new
principles have been developed! About 2,000 years ago Pliny
described an up and down dash churn very
much the same as the one yet made and sold
in most countries (Fig. 40) in which just
as good butter can be made as in the very
latest "patent," even though it does take more
work, and leaves more fat in the buttermilk.
The old Russian Churn (Fig. 41 from
Martini's "Kirne and Girbe"), which is a
stone jar in which the stirrer, provided with
anchor-like prongs, is twirled round and
round between the hands, may yet be found
in northern Europe, and may be said to rep-
resent our modern revolving dash churns, of which the Danish
(Fig. 42) represents the vertical and the ''Blanchard" the horizon-
tal system.
Another development was the revolving barrels with various
kinds of fixed dashers, such as the old Swiss "Grindstone" churn.
But evolution simplified these to the end-over-end revolving barrel.
mg. 41)
(Fig. 42)
56
-^^^^.
(Fig- 43). and
the Curtis rec-
tangular churn,
which may be
said to be the
two most popu-
lar dairy churns
(Fig. 43) • u Axr ^
m the West.
The old Arabian churn, made
out of the skin of a goat (Fig.
44), which still holds its own
among many tribes in Africa,
and the hollow log (Fig. 45)
used in Asia Minor are both
prototypes of the modern Davis
Swing churn (Fig. 46) which is
quite popular in the Eastern States.
While in Europe the creameries generally adhere to the
vertical churn with revolving
dashers (Fig. 42), the large box
(Fig. 44.)
(Fig. 45) • (Fig. 46)
churn (Fig. 47), of which some are made to open like a trunk,
(easier to clean and aerate, but harder to keep from leaking while
churning), kept their ground here until the combined churns
have taken their place to' a great extent, first in the Western
States, then East and lately in Europe as well.
In 1840 Mr. Clifton introduced air through a hollow up and
down dasher and in 1896 or '97, a Mr. Norcross introduced it
through a hollow revolving shaft with a kind of turbine attach-
ment, as something new and wonderful. Neither has any more
value than the innumerable patent (?) lightning churns.
Next must be mentioned churning with air bubbles forced
into the cream by an air pump, first proposed by Doehn, of Berlin,
(Fig. 4Si
in 1887, and in 188^ by Walter Cole, of Melbourne, Australia. I
illustrate this system in
(Fig. 48), the Rolands
(France), and, while no
special advantage has
been demonstrated as to
the mechanical effect of
this system, (rather the
reverse) I believe, that
for certain purposes
(churning cream more
or less tainted), it might
have some effect in improving the quality. Experiments made in
Illinois, however, proved it to be impracticable on a large scale.
Combined churns and butter workers will be discussed in a
later chapter.
CONSIDERATIONS IN CHOOSING A CHURN.
In buying a churn the following points should be consid-
■ered: (i.) Base with zvhich it is cleaned, (a) Close grained
hard-wood is better than any softer wood, hence white-beech
and oak or ash are preferable to pine, but in large box churns
the element of warping must be considered, (b.) The fewer
-corners and projections, (fixtures), and the more air and light
that can be had (large openings) the better it is. (c.) Glass
peepholes, fixed thermometers and putty should not be toler-
ated : with a little experience there is no need of looking very
often, and then the cover may be removed, (d.) Of dash
58
churns those with movable dashers are preferable to those having
them fixed. (2.) Bxhaustiveness in churning. Conditions being,
right for 'the churn and cream in question the exhaustiveness will
as a rule be nearly the same, provided the time used is not less-
than 15 or 20 minutes. In all so-called lightning churns claiming
to finish in from 2 to 5 minutes the loss of fat in buttermilk,
will be great, and the quality of the butter inferior. If you
want to test the exhaustiveness of a churn, use it exactly as the
manufacturer tells you and then test the buttermilk. If it does
not show more than 0.3 for thin cream and 0.2 per cent, for rich
cream, churned at a low temperature, you may indeed be satisfied,
but in practice I fear that the variation is from 0.3 per cent, ta
I per cent. (3.) Power required to churn a given quantity
should give way to the other points. (4.) Solidity in construc-
tion. (5.) Condition in which the butter comes. If you have
followed the manufacturer's instructions, the butter should come
in nice, regular granules, and not too soft. Yet, if you otherwise-
like the churn, you may, by lowering the temperature or otherwise
changing the conditions (speed), find it satisfactory, even if the-
time used is longer than claimed. (6.) The last thing to be
considered is the cost.
combine:d separators and churns.
Mr. Johnson, of Sweden, first invented the "Extractor,""
(Fig. 49), a separator inside of which a churn apparatus (c)
churned the sweet cream as fast as sep-
arated and consequently produced sweet
cream butter. Later Mr. Wahlin, also a
Swede, constructed the "Accumulator," a
similar combination, and the latest is the-
''Radiator," a wonderfully perfect machine,
with a separating room in the lower, and a
cooling device and a churn in the upper
part of the bowl, but the product — "sweet
cream butter" — does not seem to take well
on the English market, according to the
last report of the Swedish Dairy Agent.
Even if the product did sell well, it
seems absurd to try to combine two ma-
chines which require a different tempera-
ture to do good work, and the several at-
tempts made to introduce it here have as-
yet been in vain.
(Fig. 49) COMBINED CHURNS AND WORKKKS.
In this case the temperature desired is about the same and
indeed in a warm room the advantage of being able to work the-
butter without exposing it to the air is considerable. Various con-
structions have been made. The first I saw (in 1893) was the
"Owen," in which the working part was removed, while churn-
59
ing. This does not seem to have come into use, and later the
"Disbrow," the ''Wizard," the "Victor," the "Barber's," the
"Queen," and the "Perfection," all having fixed rollers, appeared.
When there is trouble it is generally because a beginner neglects
to follow the directions for use strictly.
The standard churn and the most popular in the West is un-
doubtedly as yet the "Dishrow," v^hich is illustrated in Fig. 50.
The rollers are in the center, while, for instance, in the "Victor,"
(there are two sets), they are near the periphery of the churn,
and in the "Perfection" there is only one roller.
Another construction altogether is the Sharpless "Squeezer."
It consists of a revolving drum provided with 6 shelves which
are pivoted so that when used as a churn, they aie converging to
the center of the drum, thus serving as fixed dashers. When
working the butter a set of cranks shift their position, squeezing
the butter against the drum as it slowly revolves.
(Fig. 50) (Fig. 51)
The "Queen" drum has a corrugated wooden roller on a
heavy steel shaft which hangs on a hinged arm in the churn drum
provided with narrow shelves.
When churning the roller hangs straight down, while, when
working, it is carried up the side of the drum in such a way that
the further it is carried, the greater is the distance between the
roller and the side of the drum, as illustrated by the manufacturer
in a cross-section, Fig. 51. The weight of the roller is sufficient
to squeeze the butter. These last two churns do not seem to
have gained much foothold. In Fig. 52 I show the manufacturers'
cross-section of the "Perfection" drum, it is certainly the simplest
of all in construction, but as I have never even seen it work, I
cannot give any opinion of it.
Another candidate for public favor,
which is becoming popular, is the ''Sim-
plex" combined churn which I illustrate
closed for churning in Fig. 53, and the re-
movable working gear in Fig. 54. This is
an adaptation of old National butterworker
and it has the great advantage that the
working gear may be removed, cleaned and
(Fig. 52) dried, and that the whole churn is more
6o
""get-at-able." The condition of the butter may also be ob-
served while working. In Europe there are 8 or 9 imitations of
these combined churns, more or less improved and all well built.
HANDLING THE: CHURNS.
With a new churn, there is always a danger of the wood im-
parting a flavor to the
first batches of but-
ter. Various ways are
taken to prepare it.
I have used the fol-
lowing with pretty
good success : Soak
for 24 hours with cold
water, changing it
two or three times,
• churn for half an
hour with hot water
and some lye soda or
other alkali (Unleached
(Fig. o3) wood ashes are very good
too). This lye must not be
too strong so as to soften the
wood. Rinse and churn with
hot water. In doing this don't
forget to ventilate by opening
the cover or the plug a little
as otherwise you may have
an explosion. Soak with sour
milk or buttermilk, rinse with
cold water, churn again with (Fig. 54)
alkaline water and finally with hot and cold water.
Just before churning always rinse it with hot and cold
water and in cleaning it rinse with cold water, then warm, and
finally boiling water, using alkaline water now and then as
needed.
Lime water is a splendid thing to use and the small churns
may be filled up with it after scalding and left with the small
utensils in it to soak up to time of churning. In case of large
churns, churn with 3 or 4 bucketfuls for 5 or 10 minutes and draw.
There is no need of further rinsing, what little adheres will not
hurt the cream. The Danes now whitewash the churns and leave
them for a couple of hours, when it is scrubbed off.
In creameries steam should be used instead of boiling water
and long enough to make the wood hot enough to dry itself, but
combined churns should, according to instructions from the
Owatonna Mfg. Co., not be steamed, as it will hurt them.
Covers should be left open and small churns placed in open
air to dry unless filled with lime water. A churn continually damp
6i
will soon smell musty and that is the great danger with our large
creamery churns compared with the small Danish ones.
Never fill the churn too full, as a rule it is safest to put in
less than the manufacturers tell you. End over barrel and box
churns should not be filled more than half, but it really depends
on the ''fall" that is left, that is, if a churn 24 inches deep may
be half filled, one only 18 inches should not be filled so full,
as that would give the cream a 9-inch instead of a 12-inch drop.
It is always safest to strain the cream into the churn and
the coloring should be calculated according to the butter expected.
It is easy to keep track of how much milk each vat represents
anl use yesterday's yield for an estimate.
Until lately two kinds of butter color have been on the mar-
ket, the purely vegetable (Annatto) as represented by Chr. Han-
sen's Danish and Thatcher's, and the aniline or coal tar colors
among which Wells & Richardson Co.'s and the Alderney were
best known. The latter were free from sediment, strong and
cheap, but since the enactment of the Pure Food Law the coal
tar colors have been abandoned and Wells & Richardson Co. are
now producing a vegetable color. In the minute quantities in
which butter color enters into the butter the coal tar colors -
could hardly be considered dangerous, but since the vegetable
colors answer the purpose fully it is better to be on the safe side..
The quality of the oil used as well as the shade and bright-
ness imparted to the butter must be considered in selecting the
color.
HAND CHURNING.
Start the churn, and do not forget to ventilate it once or
twice during the first minutes and then make sure of the tempera- -
ture.
After this, strike the right gait (given by the manufactur-
er), or learned by experience, keep it going steadily^ — do not
get curious and stop to look at it until the regular time has
elapsed or the change in the sound warns you that the cream is
"broken." If you are musical a song may help you to keep time.
If it should not come on time, stop and take the temperature,
and if that is wrong correct it by adding hot or cold water. It
is also a good plan to take the temperature and regulate if neces-
sary when it is "broken," because if it is too high the butter is
apt to retain too much water (16 per cent or more) and Uncle
Sam may prosecute 3^ou. Then churn again a little slow-er, but
with a steady motion till the granules are of the right size. Some
makers prefer them 1-16, others 1-8 of an inch in diameter. I
think the latter a little too large and prefer the size between
the two.
Sometimes, if the butter does not come, the cream may
foam and nearly fill the churn. This may be caused by (i), the
cream being too cold ("especially if a thin cream), (2), the churn
being too full to start with, (3), too high speed being used in
62
starting, and (4), the milk being delivered from cows just calved
(biestings), from strippers or sick cows. Sometimes it will
mend itself by allowing the cream to stand quiet for an hour or so,
but the safest in the first cases is to divide it into two churnings
and start fresh at the right temperature.
DRAWING THE BUTTERMILK AND WASHING.
When the granules are of the right size, and if salt in the
buttermilk is not objectionable, the addition of this will make
it draw better, but I have seldom been troubled that way, and
there is no need of losing a single granule, as a strainer, or better,
a hair sieve, should be used in drawing.
When this is done, about the same amount of water of from
50 to 55 deg. should replace the buttermilk (if the granules seem
very soft 45 deg. may be allowed) ; the churn should be turned
a few times. Unless it is desired to harden the granules the
water should be drawn at once. It is a big mistake to leave the
butter to soak in water for hours. As a rule two rinsings should
be enough and indeed some of the finest butter is made without
rinsing at all, relying on the working to remove the buttermilk.
The Danes used to do this, but now they rinse the granules by
dipping them from the buttermilk with a hair sieve and then
moving this gently in a tub of cold water, thus washing the butter
only once and only for a minute or so. As in most other mat-
ters the best road lies in the middle course.
Too much care cannot be exercised in securing pure water
for washing the butter, and I am convinced that in many cases
the butter is spoiled by impure water.
If we have deep artesian wells, where no surface water is
possible, the water is all right unless indeed it contains too much
iron or other mineral impurities. Yet it is often customary to
pump the. water directly into the churn in order to get it as cold
as possible, and sometimes this may lead to a most disagreeable
result, that is when sand is sucked up with the water, and it
happens now and then that a whole churning is spoiled. But
with dug wells it would really be best to boil, cool and filter the
water used for washing, and I believe it might even pay, at least
in large creameries, to distill the water to ensure absolute purity
and freedom from germs. If this is too much trouble, at least
filter it, and for this purpose the International filter is to be
recommended if a smaller size is placed on the market (the one
now sold for $110 will filter from 800 to 1,000 gallons per hour).
This cure may, however, be worse than the disease if the filter
is not kept bacteriogically clean.
Dug wells into which the creamery or stable drainage has a
chance to leak should be condemned, and indeed no creamery
should be built without first providing the water supply and have
it analyzed chemicallv and bacteriologically even if it costs from
$25 to $50.
CHAPTER VII.
SALTING AND WORKING.
Brine Salting is popular with many private dairymen. After
draining the buttermilk or after the first washing a strong
brine is poured over the granules, the churn revolved, the brine
drawn and a fresh lot of brine added. When this is drained, the
granules are packed directly into the tub, pail or crock by simply
pressing it with the butter lad^e. This is a very nice way of
selling brine for butterfat and if private customers are satisfied
so much the better, but it is not an advisable system selling on
the open market, and if the percentage of water left exceeds i6,
there is now danger of being heavily fined. First it is difficult
to get it salty enough and if this is done by adding some dry
salt it is very hard to salt uniformly.
The object of salting is to preserve the butter and improve
the taste. This is generally understood, but less so its action in
drawing out the buttermilk from the butter granules apparently
washed clean. In churning, the microscopical fat globules are
joined together into the little visible granules and these contain a
great deal of "serum" — buttermilk. The dry salt sprinkled over
the drained granules will, in melting, absorb part of the serum,
■chiefly the milk sugar solution, leaving most of the albuminous
matter, and the moisture is thus reduced with less working than
IS otherwise needed.
APPLYING the: salt.
Some makers sprinkle half the salt in the churn, revolve it
once, sprinkle the other half, and after a while, work it once. In
this way it is rather difficult to get uniform results, as it is hard
to estimate the amount of moisture and the consequent loss by
drainage. Nevertheless, many makers manage to do good work
that way and while they use from i>^ to 2 ounces of salt, the but-
ter will only retain from ^ to ^ ounces — and in this connection
we must also consider the solubility of the salt used. If lumpy,
the salt should be crushed and sifted.
63
64
In Denmark they work the granules very Hghtly and then
weigh the butter, add the sah and work Hghtly and leave the but-
ter in lumps of 5 to 10 lbs. floating in water at a temperature of
44 to 46 degs. ; after 2 to 4 hours they work it the second time.
I prefer now simply to weigh the granules and as the weight of
the butter is known approximately, a fair idea is given of the
moisture and more or less salt may accordingly be added to the
granules. After stirring it in with a light touch — the granules
should be firm enough to stand this without adhering — leave the
salt to dissolve partly for half an hour or so and work it lightly
the first time. After 2 to 4 hours work it the second time and
there will seldom be complaints of mottled butter.
Indeed I believe it to be a fact that we are getting back from
the once fashionable "wash, wash, no working" system to that of
the good old "working twice." In creameries this weighing of
the granules is impracticable, and, where combined churns are
used, impossible, and we must rely on our judgment, controlled
by a knowledge of the amount of butterfat in the churn. The
trouble is that few makers understand that it is far better to work
several times a little at a time than to work once. They forget that
the danger of getting salvy butter is greater in the latter case,
where the mechanical heat developed b}^ the continuous working
makes the butter soft, whereas the butter regains its elasticity if
we give it a rest before working it again.
The temperature is all important. If cool the friction,
in softening it while working, will make it greasy. If too warm
it will not stand working and the moisture will be worked into
instead of out of the butter. Between 50 and 60 deg. (accord-
ing to the composition of the fat) will be found right and cream-
eries should have their worker (as well as churn) in a room
which can be kept at that temperature. If the butter is left be-
tween workings in a too cold (or too hot) room, say in 60 lb.
tubs, there is danger of the outside becoming too firm (or too
soft) before the center is cooled enough and the result will be
streaky butter. For this reason the Danes prefer to leave it in
lumps of 5 to 10 lbs. at that stage.
SALT TO use:.
Years ago good dairy salt was much harder to get than
now. Then, indeed, it had to be imported, and "Ashton," "Hig-
gins," and "Luneborg" (used in Denmark) ruled the roost, but
now there are several excellent dairy salts made in the States,
65
notably ''Diamond Crystal/' ''Worcester/' ''Cadillac" and Colon-
ial" and a few others. The main thing is never to use coarse, im-
pure salt ; by impure I do not refer to chemical purity, which does
not always insure it being the best.
But even the very best brand may have been exposed in
transit and absorbed odors or black specks may have got into it,
so that it is safest to test it by dissolving in water and see if it
leaves any sediment or gives a milky solution. Mr. Gurler, in
his "American Dairying," recommends dissolving the salt in hot
water to detect taints.
As salt absorbs odor it must be stored in a clean place and the
careful dairyman will keep an eye on where his dealer keeps it.
We often hear creamery men say : "We use such and such a
salt (mentioning a cheap brand) generally, but when we put up
butter for cold storage we use so and so (mentioning an ex-
pensive salt). How is this? Is it all imagination? If not, why
can't they see that if the expensive salts are better for cold stor-
age they are also better for every-day use. There may be good
salts among the cheaper brands, but until manufacturers have
proven their ability to make them uniformly alike, it is safest to
use those, year in and year out, which have been proved by years
of practical tests.
I confess that I like a salt with a grain to it, so that when
sprinkled on the butter it does not mush like fine sugar on berries.
I also prefer a salt which does not dissolve too quickly, as I
advocate working twice.
Right here there is a common clap trap device used by salt
agents when they talk about the special "make-weight" or the
clear brine of their brand. A good maker will always study his
salt and act accordingly, leaving more or less moisture, according-
to whether the salt is less or more soluble.
THE worke:rs.
Good butter has been made by working it with the hands
and if the dainty dairymaid washes her hands and arms carefully
first in hot and then in cold water, there is really no more ob-
jection than to the neat housewife kneading her bread or cake,
but, to be on the safe side, the watchword is now given : "Never
touch the butter zvith your hands/'
In small quantities butter may be worked manipulating it
with two paddles, like Fig. 55, pressing the lump flat in a wooden
bowl, and then rolling it up and pressing it endwise, never rub-
66
bing it, but a small lever worker like Fig. 56 does not cost very
much, and if the lever is not rolled or rubber over the butter, but
used for pressing it, the result is very satisfactory. Another
simple worker not sold here, but easily made, consists of a wide
board with two strips of wood on either side and a corrugated
roller on a wooden shaft long enough to form handles and two
round pieces of wood which keep the roller about half an inch
off the board. The roller presses the
butter into a flat corrugated piece, which
is rolled up with the ladle and turned at
a right angle and worked again as shown
in Fig. 57. This also represents the way /pj 55 ^
to work butter on the rotary worker, which is illustrated by the
*'Bmhree" (58) and one of the latest European modifications
made by Konstantin, Hansen & Schroeder, of Kolding, Denmark,
(Fig. 59). The one mostly
used in the western creameries
before the advent of the com-
bined churns and workers,
was the ''Mason," but it was
not nearly as good as either of
those illustrated. Similar
workers are made by the var-
ious manufacturers and have
kept their ground in spite of
hundreds of modifications
(Fig. 56) which found favor as labor
savers for a short time. In buying these workers in which the
table revolves one way and the rollers the other it is necessary
that their surface speed correspond exactly, if not, there will
be a rubbing motion, making the butter greasy.
(Fig. 5T)
(Fig. 58)
67
To describe when biiiter is worked enough is next to impos-
sible. There should not be more than between 12 and 14 per cent,
water left ; when a piece is broken it should show a granular con-
struction like coarse cast iron, and when pressed with the ladle a
few drops of clear brine
should show. This is
the nearest I can get,
but experience wiH soon
teach and the object is
to avoid too much mois-
ture on one side — selling
water for butter — (the
legal limit is now 16 per
cent, in America, Eng-
land, Germany and oth-
er countries) — and too little on the other side making the butter
dffficult to spread and losing weight.
USING COMBINED GIUURNS AND WORKERS.
The popularity gained by these in our western creameries
and lately also in the East and even in conservative Europe, is
undeniable and the reasons are evident, (i.) Saving of labor
in removing the butter from churn to worker. (2.) As most
creameries are not provided with a special fly-proof room where
the right temperature can be maintained, the keeping of the but-
ter shut up in the churn and worker until ready to pack is an
evident advantage. (3.) The saving of space is another great
advantage.
Objections have been raised (i) that they are difficult to
clean; (2) that it is very difficult to get the salt evenly distrib-
uted and hence there is a liability to mottles; (3) that the butter
would retain too much moisture; (4) that the maker cannot
watch it to remove specks if there are any, nor stop just at the'
right moment; (5) that some of the constructions would grease
up several pounds of butter at each end of the inside gearing;
(6) that they are expensive, and unless renewed often would be
impossible to keep sweet.
I have but little practical experience with these churns, and
did not at first encourage their introduction, preferring to preach
the providing of churn and working room so that the only ad-
vantage remaining would be that of saving labor and space.
On the other hand a close observation of the ways in which
68
it has been used by some of our best makers and the resultant
butter has convinced me that most of the objections must be
negatived, (i.) If they are treated as suggested for the other
churns they can be kept sweet, at least as long as age has not
made the wood too soft. (2.) By adding the salt (sifting it so
as to have no lumps) carefully, distributing it evenly and letting
the churn revolve a few times at the slow speed before setting
the rollers going, an even salting can be secured, though a little
more salt may be consumed. (3.) By having the granules of the
7'ight temperature and by working the butter twice or three times,,
the moisture can be sufficiently expelled, especially if it is given
10 or 15 minutes for every 6 or 7 revolutions and allowed to
drain. If necessary the temperature may be lowered between
workings by placing some blocks of ice on the rollers. A late
patent calls for the shelves slanting in opposite directions whereby
it is claimed the butter is mixed better and the salting done more
evenly. (?) (4.) Practice will soon teach the maker to stop in
time, and if churn, cream and salt are clean, there can be no
specks or flies to remove. (5.) This is true to a greater or lesser
extent, but when 500 or 900 lbs. are worked at once the loss is
not great if care is taken not to pack the greasy butter with the
rest. The shelves should also be watched so that no lumps of
butter remain permanently there (escaping salting), as, if incor-
porated later on, they will produce mottles. (6.) They may be-
come expensive if renewed often, but that is a small matter com-
pared with the saving of labor. While personally I am perhaps
too much of an *'old fogy" to adopt the new system in a small
creamery, it would be unfair not to acknowledge that with care-
ful work virtually all objections must be dropped while the ad-
vantages remain, and in a large creamery they are absolutely to
be recommended.
''thk overrun.'''
The "Overrun" is the difference in the weight of the but-
terfat found by the test in milk (or cream) and that of the
marketable butter made.
Butter is composed of fat, water, salt and casein. The pro-
portion of these elements may vary considerably, even without
the conscious intention of the maker.
The average composition of American butter has been placed
as being 83 per cent, fat, 13 per cent, water, i per cent, casein
and 3 per cent. salt. The analysis of eight hundred and two
69
samples of show butter varied in water from 7.2 per cent, to 17.6
per cent., with an average of 11.78 water.
Danish butter averages about 14.25 per cent, water with a
tendency to a sHght increase.
It \vill thus be seen that the "overrun" may vary nearly 10
per cent, simply by incorporating more or less water in the but-
ter. Casein may vary from 0.5 per cent, to 2 per cent, and salt,
of course, from nothing to 2.5 per cent, or 3 per cent., exception-
ally more.
But in addition to this cause in variation, the butterfat lost
in separation, in handling milk and cream and in churning, may
make considerable difference. Let us say that, with milk testing
3.8 per cent, fat, the loss in skim milk is o.i per cent., and that we
take about 11 per cent, cream and lose in handling it and in
churning 0.4 per cent. Let us further say that we make a but-
ter containing 83 per cent, fat, then we have an "overrun" of
16 per cent.
But if we lose 0.2% in the skim milk and 0.8% in the butter-
milk and handling the cream and the butter still contains 83%
fat, then the "overrun" will only be ii^:?.
Nor is this variation anything extraordinary in practical
every-day creamery work, and it shows the value of a good butter-
maker, who, by careful work, day in, day out, may easily save
the patrons, say 3 per cent., in this way and another 3 per cent,
by incorporating just about the right amount of water. This will,
in a creamery with 10,000 lbs. of milk per day, amount to 26 lbs.
of butter per day, or at least $5.00, and yet many patrons will hesi-
tate about paying him a monthly salary of $100.00 or $125.00.
CONTROLLING THE WATER PERCENTAGE.
The above shows the importance of being able to control the
percentage of moisture in butter from a financial standpoint, but
there is also a moral reason, as it is evidently dishonest to incor-
porate too much water and sell as butter and finally there is now
the legal reason as our National government (and other coun-
tries) have established a maximum standard of 16 per cent, wa-
ter, and if we exceed that the butter will be deemed adulterated
and the maker fined heavily. While I have nothing to say against
the buttermakers trying to put in a reasonable amount of water,
«ay 14 per cent., I cannot too strongly warn them to be very
careful in going too close to the margin, as we have — as far as
I know — no rules whereby we can absolutely control the water
70
contents within 2 per cent. The makers who want to be on the
safe side should test the butter before taking it from the churn
and use one of the moisture tests on the market. In most cases
the samples taken from the churn will show not quite one per
cent, more w^ater than when taken from the packed tubs and so*
15 per cent, may be deemed fairly safe, but not absolutely so.
If tub samples are taken it should be more than one from each
churning. The great mistake is to look upon 16 per cent, as the
ideal standard instead of the criminal limit, which it really is.
In a creamery where the buttermaker has complete control of
temperatures and does not aim to have more than 14 per cent,
water there is but little danger of conflicting with "Uncle Sam."
Before discussing this question further I must draw atten-
tion to the old, old fraud, which reappears under new names. An
enormous increase in the butter yield is secured by addition of
rennet, or similar stuflF, which coagulates the casein, and this^
with or without the addition of extra melted butter, is in-
corporated with the butterfat, making what might possibly be
called a very rich cream cheese, but which has no right to the
name of butter. Fifteen years ago it was pushed under the name
of "Guiness" process butter,^ and a large creamery was run in
Chicago which was used as a decoy to sell county rights. Later
''Black Pepsin" was advertised for the same purpose, and now I
notice that it is sold as "Richards Butter Rennet." As soon as-
the papers get onto the fraud the name is changed, and, no doubt,
it will appear under a new name again and again.
Remember, if 100 lbs. of milk contains 4 lbs. of fat and you
do your very best with the best modern implements, you can never
make more than 4.6 to 4.7 lbs. honest butter, and never hope to-
fool any buyer with much more than 5 lbs., be the increase ob-
tained with water or casein.
The elements which influence the amount of water in butter
lie chiefly in churning and working. If we churn at a too high
temperature and churn too long or even simply so as to get large
granules, we increase the moisture; or, if we churn at a low
temperature and use warm wash water and overchurn it, then
we will increase the moisture. Even so in working, if it is done
at a too high temperature we work the moisture in instead of out.
If we drain the granules carefully before adding the salt, the salt
will, in dissolving, draw moisture from the granules and help to-
reduce the moisture.
71
Assuming the churning to be normal, then it may be said
that we best regulate the moisture by raising or lowering the
temperature of the wash water, which means the initial tempera-
ture of the working, and by draining the granules more or less
before addfng salt.
It is true Prof. Storch claims another influence on the mois-
ture contents of butter — cream ripening — but I have not been
able to understand it or to find any confirmation in practical
work.
The overrun is influenced by cream ripening only in so far
that it may influence the churnability of the cream and leave
more or less fat in the buttermilk.
There is, I regret to say, a tendency nowadays to lay too
much stress on the overrun — the quantity — to the neglect of the
quality.
CHAPTER VIII.
PACKAGES AND PACKING.
FOR THE private: DAIRY.
For the dairies the Bradley Boxes (Fig. 60), holding 2, 3. 4,
5 and 10 lbs. and packed in crates (Fig. 61) are used a great deal,
as well as the bail boxes (Fig. 62), holding 5, 7^, 9 and 10 lbs.
They are very good and practical packages, accepted by the trade,
the latter chiefly in the West.
One pound rectangular prints wrapped in parchment paper
and sent in return
boxes provided with an
ice chamber (Fig. 63) is
very popular in the East,
and (packed solid) is
(Fi^. Gl) fas^ gaining ground in
the West. Indeed prints put up in cartons
under some special brand are being pushed by
(Fig.'r)2) (FigToO) niany creameries and dealers and the sales,
both East and West, have increased enormous-
ly. With the return boxes the difficulty is to keep the trays
perfectly sweet, but this trouble may be overlooked when a good
price is secured. If packed solid the 54-lb. cubical or 50-lb. rec-
tangular box is mostly used. There are numerous other packages,
such as the "Record" tin lined package, the "Crystal," a glass
jar in a galvanized pail, paper boxes round (the "Gem") and
square, etc., etc., not to forget the old stone jars, but these are not
popular among the men who handle the butter in the large
markets and should be used only for local trade or for private
customers. Round and square prints are also suitable and are
72
73
made with the hand moulds similar to the one shown in Fig. 64.
They should be wrapped in parchment paper or new muslin,
never in the cabbage leaves or linen cloths of suspicious origin.
In printing it is also important to be sure that there is full
weight and whatever printer is used, the weight should be tried
now and then, even if each lump is not weighed before printing.
A neat scale for this purpose is made with a porcelain plate. The
parchment should be soaked in brine.
(Fig. G4)
(Fis. 03)
(Fig. 65.)
FOR CREAMERIES AND LARGE DAIRIES.
When more work is desired we have a great many devices —
the " N e s b i t, " the
''Rapps Automatic," the
- "I. X. L.," etc. Some
of the most popular
ones of this class —
'"single" printers — being
those similar to the "La-
fayette," shown in Fig.
66, or the "Eureka" in
Fig. 65. The former is
fixed on a table (indicated in dotted lines) and with a Httle prac-
tice very fast work can be done with either.
Quite another system is illustrated in Fig. 68, the "Acme,"
-originally called the "Lusted," in which 25 i-lb. or 50 3^-lb. prints
fEE LAlATEm BUTTER PBINTEB.
(Fi-. (>t;i
(Fig. <J8)
(Fig. 69)
are made at one impres-
sion. This system has
gained ground and been
modified and improved
by various manufacturers.
Special devices for cut- (Fig-. 70)
ting up tub and box butter into prints are also made,-
notably, by the American Butter Cutting Machine Co., which has
a great variety, and the Low Butter Cutter Co. also makes one. A
new machine has recently been put on the market for wrappings-
the prints. It is power driven and has a claimed capacity of 40
a minute. It is said to give good satisfaction. Finally in Fig. 69,
I illustrate the mold used for the California two-pound roll, the-
standard size in that market. Larger private dairies sending to
the open market may safely use 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60 lbs. tubs,,
same as the creameries.
Creameries in Europe nearly all use the Danish 56 and 112 lb.
beech firkin (Fig. 70) though in some countries the heavier oak:
75
may be seen. In America the standard creamery package is the
6o-lb. tub (Fig. 71), made of white ash, with five black ash
hoops. Indeed, so wedded is the trade to this package that any
divergency, even the least, may cause a reduction in price. Thus
it would be nearly impossible to sell Elgin butter at the market
price even in ash tubs, if there were six hoops on them. Nor is
this kind of prejudice altogether without a reasonable explana-
tion, as the six-hoop tubs had been used largely by gathered
cream creameries, and hence Elgin butter would at once be sus-
pected of being such, and each tub would have to be examined
as to quality. Nor would it look well
in a carload to have some five hoop tubs
and some with six hoops.
These tubs are made in sizes to hold
10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 56 and 60 lbs., the lat-
ter being the one most used by cream-
eries. A handmade tub is generally pre-
ferred, and though the machine made
(staves tongued and grooved) are neat-
er in appearance, they are not nearly so
popular. The New York oak tubs are
(Fig. 71) hooped with galvanized iron hoops, 'but
seldom seen now.
Boston will take spruce tubs, but they are not very popular
in the other large markets, they look very neat indeed when new,
but do not come out of cold storage in good shape. The tub
covers are fastened with various fasteners, but the trade endorses
only the tin straps fastened with half-inch wire nails, and the
various patent hooks sold should not
be used.
For export to England neat oak
iio-lb. firkins used to be the package,
but now the Australian square box is
the standard.
It is made of poplar and spruce and
measures inside 12x12x12 inches and
exactly 56 lbs. should be packed in it,
or rather a little more, so as to make
it hold that on arrival in England, no
more, no less. The English trade cus-
(Fig 72) ^^""^ demands this and will not pay for
76
any overweight, while underweight will cause no end of trouble.
Various boxes have been made with grooves in the wood and with
slats nailed on so as to secure air circulation between the boxes
when cold stored.
For export to South America and other warm climes tin
cans carefully soldered and packed in boxes with rice shells or
dry saw dust are the best.
Wooden packages should be kept in a clean, dry place, a
damp storeroom may cause moldy tubs.
PREPARING THE PACKAGE.
Stone and glass jars as well as tin cans need of course
only to be clean in a "dairyological," not to say bacteriologi-
cal sense, but wooden packages require more than this. Tubs
and pails strong enough to stand it should be scrubbed in-
side with hot water or steamed and then soaked for 12 hours
with cold water or weak brine and again scrubbed with fresh
cold water or brine just before using. The water should be
as pure as that used for washing the butter. The outside should
be kept as dry as possible. If thoroughly steamed and then
rubbed with salt it is said that 2 hours soaking is all sufficient.
^ The use of parchment paper lining is now quite general.
In tubs only the bottom and side should be lined and the very
best paper soaked in strong brine for a few, if not 12, hours
should be used, and the tub should ahvays be prepared as de-
scribed above, as otherwise mold may appear.
I confess to a partiality for the system of steaming the
tub in a steambox and then at once give it a coating of paraffine.
I believe there is less danger of mold, and certainly less soak-
age of brine into the wood, but properly prepared parchment
paper should also be used. In Fig. 72 I show the Capper Paraffiner
where, after steaming the tub, the paraffine is forced in by steam
pressure. I refer also to U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry cir.
cular 130 describing an apparatus where it is forced in by a hand
pump. It may, however, be done by applying it with a brush pro-
vided the tub and the paraffine are hot enough.
PACKING.
Packing should be done while the butter is pliable and
by pressing with a ladle or (in tubs) ramming with a "packer"
(oi:^e kind may be seen in Fig. 70). Too much should not be
put in the tubs — never more than 5 to 10 lbs. at a time, and
77
each lot should be carefully rammed so as to get it solid and
leave no air spaces. To do this, use the packer with a slight
slant from the center to the sides of the tub. This is all im-
portant, not only in
order to exclude the
air (which reduces
the keeping quality),
but also because it
is foolish to pack
four to five pounds
(Fig. 78) (Fi- 74) less in a tub than it
will hold, as was done in the tub shown in Fig. 73. The New
York Produce Review kindly lent me this illustration from an
article on packing, one of the many interesting ones published
by that enterprising paper. In Fig. 74 is shown a tub packed
in a nearly perfect manner, though there is one place defective.
Ram the butter so as to more than fill the tub and strike
it off level with the edge. Some use a wire to cut it with.
If you want to smooth it do it by pressing with the ladle, not
by rubbing, which makes the butter greasy. Line bottom and
sides with good parchment paper, leaving an even edge of
about one inch, to be folded neatly over the top before putting
on the cloth circle, then dampen this with brine and sprinkle
a thin layer of salt on top of it. Fasten the cover with 4 equi-
distant tin straps, using half-inch wire nails. Stencil uniformly
without getting finger marks on tub^
^l^nrTirnnrinTnToum^Y^ Weigh thc tub bcforc filling and after,
^ marking the gross and tare in pencil.
Reweigh the day of shipping and you
may save yourself from being unjust
to your commission man. If the but-
ter has not too much water, if the tub
has been properly soaked, if you allow
J4 lb. to ^ lb. per 60 lb. tub for
shrinkage, and if your scales are cor-
rect, you need not fear any deductions
from your weights by honest commis-
sion men. In this connection it must
(Fiff 75) ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ scales, especially platforrn
scales, are liable to get out of order,
brine will soon rust them; hence one similar to the one shown
7«
in Fig. 75 is preferable for weighing butter, and ail scales in
a creamery should be frequently tested and kept scrupulously
clean.
SHIPPING AND MARKE^TING.
In the open market dealers prefer to have no private stencil
or trade mark on the package, and especially do they object to
the name and address. If you use these and your butter is not
up to the standard, leave them off, and, in any case, always
notify your receiver if for some reason a shipment or part of
one is not as good as usual.
Too much stress cannot be laid on keeping the packages
clean and protected from heat and dust in hauling to market
or to the railway, and while waiting for the train. Too often
have I seen tubs exposed for hours to the sun on the station
platform, and if the creamery man cannot attend to it himself
he ought to arrange with the agent to have the tubs protected
and not soiled in loading.
Never contract your butter for a whole year at the quota-
tions of a certain market. Whenever a large number of cream-
eries do that, it is a temptation for the buyer to manipulate that
market. Indeed, some of the Boards of Trade become more
or less of a farce, when less than one-tenth of the butter from
the members is put up and sold on the open board. If you sell
at all, sell at a fixed price.
Never ship a "sample shipment to an unknown house" which
offers to buy it at a cent or two above the market. If they do
not fleece you the first time, they will do so when they get a
large shipment. They often send circulars giving well-known
names as references without authority.
Never try to pit two commission houses in the sante city
against each other by dividing a shipment, especially if you
use your own stencil.
If you have a good commission house, stick to it so as to
give it a chance to work up a trade on your butter.
Always insist on a prompt account of sale and remittance.
The lack of this shows either lack of good business system, or
a. desire to run their business with your money.
Instead of getting offended when your commission house
draws your attention to some fault ia your butter, insist on
79
it doing so ; follow its advice closely as to the amount and quality
of salt, color and style of package.
Selling direct to consumers is another matter, and is to be
advised, as a rule, only in case the producer can comfortably de-
liver it once a week from his own wagon. The price should
then be fixed, say for each month, or at least for the six summer
and the six winter months. To contract at a uniform price for
the year is not advisable, as in most cases the consumer wll
be willing enough to take the regular quantity in winter; but in
summer, when he can buy it elsewhere for six to eight cents less,
there is danger of trouble. In this case it is also wise to re-
member that "short accounts make long friendships," and make
the collections regularly at least once a month and better once
a week.
To sell direct to consumers, who live at a distance, is less
satisfactory, as there often is occasion for misunderstanding ; yet
it can be done in exceptional cases with great profit, and for
this kind of trade some of the different fancy packages may
be used with advantage, though as a general preposition I can-
not endorse any return package. But, in selling direct it is well
to remember the extra cost, trouble and risk incurred, and in
order to do as well as selling the whole make for cash to a dealer
or through a commission house, it is certainly necessary to get
at least five cents more a pound at the creamery.
THE future: butter AUCTIONS.
The greatest defect in our present system of marketing
is the lack of an equitable payment according to quality. It
is true some of our dealers have made an attempt to introduce
it, but I have no faith in it until a comprehensive general system
is adopted.
We are not yet ready for such a system, which is simply an
extension of co-operation, but I shall shortly refer to it here.
Let us assume that 400 Minnesota co-operative creameries or,
if you please, 1,000 Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin co-operative
creamesies join together in a "Northwestern Butter Auction As-
sociation." They hire or build cold storage room in Chicago 01
New York, as may be deemed best, and secure the services of a
competent and honest manager.
Shipments are arranged so that a regular number of tubs
(or nearly so) arrive each day and these are then graded by
8o
well-paid expert judges, who must not be interested in the-
buying or selling of butter; each lot is then sold, according to
grade, by auction, after having been branded with a registered
trademark. Returns are made in a daily printed bulletin, so that
the makers will know the result promptly. No need to go into
detail here. The system is as old as the Cork butter market
and is also used by some of the German creamery associations.
co-ope:ration.
I cannot, in this connection, refrain from urging an earnest
consideration of extended co-operation among the farmers. It
is my conviction that only in this way can the farmers save them-
selves from being fleeced both in selling their products and buy-
ing supplies and implements.
We should aim to educate ourselves on that line and follow
the example of Denmark and Belgium, where co-operative stores,.
co-operative tgg collecting and export, co-operative selling and
buying of seeds, fertilizers, fuel and whatnot, co-operative in-
surance and co-operative slaughterhouses obtain.
CHAPTER IX.
ICE HOUSE AND REFRIGERATORS.
e:ve:rybody ought to put up ic^.
Even though ice is not as important in these days of
separators, no buttermaker, be it on the farm or in the cream-
ery, ought to be without a stock of ice or snow, so as to have
complete control of temperature. Nor can the value of ice to
the farmer's wife and family be overestimated, and whenever
the winter is cold enough it is not a very great job for a few
neighbors to join together and scoop out a pond if no river
or lake is within reasonable distance. Even if such pond ice
is not fit to use in cream directly, it will cool as well as the best,
and if there is plenty of snow, and it is packed solid by wetting it
a little and trampling it, about the same cooling effect can be
obtained from a cubic foot as from ice.
It makes a difference only of about 5 per cent whether
ice is gathered in thawing or freezing weather, but in stack-
ing it is important to pack as solid as possible and fill the spaces-
with crushed ice.
THE ICE house.
The cost of an ice house need not prevent any one from
having one. I have preserved ice by stacking it on a two- foot
layer of sawdust and covering it in the same manner. I even
left a small chamber in the center of the pile, the entrance be-
ing protected by two feet of straw packed between boards. There
I could keep meat fresh for a week or more. Such an ice vault
should not be opened more than two or three times a week, as-
otherwise the ice will melt too fast.
This is not the best way and houses may be built to suit each
one's purse. In this, as in other matters, co-operation between
three or four neighbors is the thing.
If the floor is absolutely tight and laid on a layer of saw-
81
82
dust, that is the best, but it will do very well to pile it on a
thick layer of sawdust or even straw provided good drainage
is secured. (Not necessarily direct drainage, but, for instance,
a layer of gravel.)
The walls (both inner and outer) should, to get the best
result, be made of matched boards and be two feet apart and
this space should be filled with closely packed insulating material.
The inner wall may be dispensed with and the insulating done
as the ice is piled up, but this will waste more material.
Such a wall filled with dry sawdust or chaflf will stop the
air circulation even better than a whole lot of board and paper
partitions and will, as a rule, be much cheaper in the country.
A series of air spaces allows circulation in each and unless there
are many of them the insulation will not be perfect, but they are
cleaner and not so apt to get damp and musty as the solid saw-
dust or chaff which every few years must be taken out and
dried.
A combination of the two systems might possibly be the
best; say 12 or 18 inches solid in the center and an inch air space
on either side.
The floor should slant toward the center so that the ice
will lean that way and not, in melting, press on the walls. It
is enough to cover the ice with a foot or so of the insulating
material, but above this free circulation of the air should be al-
lowed. If exposed to the sun it is a good thing to have a sort
'Of tent roof above the regular roof so as to provide shade.
The value of various insulating material may be ranked in
the following order: cotton, husks of barley, wheat or oats,
leaves, chaff, husks of rice, wheat straw, sawdust and peat, all
losing value if not dry.
Chaff, leaves and husks should not be used under the ice
in the bottom, as, when damp, they easily ferment and develop
heat.
As to the unavoidable loss during the year by melting in
the ice house, it is estimated that in December it amounts to
about 45 lbs. for every square foot of the inside surface and
hence the percentage of loss is much greater in a small ice house
than in a larger one.
Refrigerating machines have been hinted at before and
where a new creamery is built and where ice can not be se-
cured virtually at the door of the creamery, a refrigerating ma-
83
chine seems to me to be advisable, but we must be prepared to
spend at least $i,ooo on it, as a too small machine is a delusion
and a snare. We should have a brine tank in the cold storage
room to hold the temperature during the night. There are
various systems in the market, but for creamery use it seems
the direct expansion ammonia system is the best, providing the
coiling is done by experts so that there shall be no leakage.
Liquid air has not yet been made practicable.
REFRIGERATORS.
Small double boxes may be constructed on the farm with
from 2 to 4 inches thickness of felting or 6 inches sawdust,
and will do nicely, though refrigerators can now be bought at
reasonable prices.
Refrigerating rooms, like good ice houses, may be built
either way, but, as a rule, the air space system is the simpler
and is effective enough if there are at least five air spaces, and
if all circulation of air from wall to ceiling and floor and from
wall to wall is effectually stopped. Careless builders often make
the partition a delusion and a snare by knocking holes in the
paper when putting it up. The studs are placed at a distance
that will allow the paper to lap over an inch or so and a I
inch thick strip is then nailed firmly over the seam on the studs,
the next paper put on, and so on until from 5 to 7 air spaces
are built up. The inner and outer walls are made of matched
boarding. The paper should be close and air-tight and should
not swell. Prof. King recommends the 3-ply giant paper made
by the Standard Paper Company, this is acid proof. The wood
used should not have a strong smell, like pine.
The biggest danger is at the joining of walls, ceiling and
floor. It is safest to fill the lower six inches of the air spaces
with mineral wool, as it must be remembered that a leakage of air
at the bottom is far more detrimental than at the top. The floor
should be insulated as carefully as the sides and should be
water tight.
The door is a difficult problem and requires a good carpenter
to construct it so as to fit tight and yet not swell and stick too
hard. It is always better to have a sort of entry room, or at least
two doors so far apart that one may be shut before the other
opens. Good doors with frames may be bought ready made.
It will be seen that even a refrigerator may be constructed
84
cheaply, but in creameries it is well to employ an expert and secure
perfection, as the danger from mould, not to speak of waste of
ice, is considerable.
Suffice it here to draw attention to a few more points. The
ice shelf or chamber or the refrigerator coils should be placed
near the ceiling and insulated so that no moisture will condense
underneath and drop on the floor, but be condensed on the ice and
be removed with the water from the ice tray through a pipe with
a water lock.
Circulation should be insured by a partition or false wall and
ceiling, which, if there is only one ice shelf, should extend nearly
to the floor on one side and to the opposite end of the ceiling at
the other side. If there is an ice shelf at both sides it should
nearly reach the floor on either side and extend from both to
nearly the center of the ceiling. In the latter case the hot air will
pass up in the center over the ice which dries and purifies it, let-
ting the cold air drop down at both ends of the room.
The very best insulation, even if expensive, has been to fill
the space with mineral wool. Prof. Robertson says that lOO lbs.
will pack about 20 square feet of space six inches wide. Lately
the Nonpareil cork board has been put on the market in sheets
from I to 3 inches thick, which is said to be satisfactory when
finished with a cement coating, and should be investigated before
choosing insulating material.
je^sew
,eBV ^^^***
CHAPTER X.
PASTEURIZATION FOR BUTTERMAKING.
NOT THK SAME AS FOR CITY USE.
When pasteurizing for buttermaking it is not necessary tc
keep the milk or cream at the temperature of i6o deg. for twenty,
or even five minutes, unless indeed it be intended to hold the
cream for a day or more or ship it a long distance before setting
the cream for ripening, in which case the keeping of it hot for a
longer period may be desirable.
And this is easily explained. If the heated and re-cooled
cream is inoculated, at once, with a good "starter" these good
flavor bacteria (or ferments) get a start of the few possible bad
germs that may have survived the short heating. In any case it
must be remembered that only "sterilization" or heating to 215
deg. can give us absolute security and that this temperature is in-
compatible with fine butter.
On a large scale, in a creamer}^, the short time heating, which
allows the use of a continuous heater, is the only practical one.
ON THE DAIRY FARM.
For buttermaking on the dairy farm I can hardly imagine any
condition that would make pasteurization desirable as a regular
practice for buttermaking, and yet there might be cases (where
weeds may taint the milk), when it should be tried as a remedy.
Of, when very small quantities of cream make churning once a
week desirable, pasteurization may be resorted to. Even so may
it be used as a temporary relief until you discover the cause of
**slimy" or "ropy" milk, which is generally due to lack of cleanli-
ness somewhere.
It is true pasteurization will not cure milk of a very strong,
leeky flavor, but it will reduce that and remove many minor taints.
In the gathered cream system where there is no ice or very
cold water at command, or where it is desired to keep the cream
8s
86
for gathering only twice a week, I have a good deal of faith in
the future application of this system of preservation.
But, once and for all, understand that pasteurization is no
panacea for all evils nor any excuse for lack of cleanliness. In-
deed, it requires a high standard of cleanliness if it is not to turn
out a delusion and a snare.
Any clean tin can, free from rust, preferably of a similar
shape to the shot-gun can, will do. A stirrer made of smooth,
clean hardwood, but prefer-
ably a tinned iron rod with
a little dasher, and a boiler
of suitable size completes the
outfit required. Fig. y6 shows
such a boiler for three regular
shot-gun cans with the stirrer
(Fig. 76) ^^ tl^e left-
Place the boiler over the fire and when the water is about
120 deg. set the can with the cream in the water and stir con-
tinuously until the cream is i6o deg., remove the cream can, re-
duce the temperature of the water in the boiler to 165 or 170 (if
warmer) by adding cold water, replace the cream can with the
cover on and keep the boiler where the water will not drop below
160 deg. Another way to maintain the temperature is to have
an insulated box as mentioned in the chapter about starters and
to place the cream can there. Keep the temperature for 20 or 30
minutes and remove the can for cooling, or, if you want to make
butter soon, cool it at once to 70 or 75 deg. and add the starter.
If the cream is to be shipped a quick intensive cooling is de-
sirable, if cooked flavor is to be avoided, and for this reason we
must either have something like the Champion or Star cooler, or
else have a can or tub with ice water in which to plunge the cream
can and cool quickly to 40 or below by stirring the cream with one
hand and the water with the other. Thus the keeping quality of
the cream will be greatly increased and this practice is com-
mended to patrons of gathered cream creameries. But if we
have no ice and cannot cool to 40 degs. I prefer to cool only
to 60 degs. rather than any intermediate degree, as 60 degs. is less
apt to develop bad flavors.
IN THK CR^AMIJRIES.
The first pasteurizing heaters used were those devised by
which is
On
the late Prof. Fjord, of Den-
mark, mentioned in the chap-
ter on heating milk for sep-*
aration (See Fig. 28). These
have been greatly improved
by the government experts of
that country. In Fig. 'j'j I il-
lustrate one of these modern
Danish heaters. It is hung
on pivots w on a neat iron
frame screwed on to the floor
and ceiling. The steam is let
into the well insulated jacket
n from the pipe m, which is
easily desconnected by a un-
ion. The condensed water
leaves through the waterlock,
having an air cock. r. The
tinned copper cylinder v is
provided with drip-rings or
flanges o o, and the dasher
c with foam-killing plates.
The milk enters at a and
leaves through the lower
(Fig. 77) opening e and what little foam
not destroyed in the room d k leaves by /.
this side of the water, the one made by A. H. Reid (Fig.
78) and also the one made by
Jensen Mfg. Co. represent this
type. Of other, heaters I refer to
(Fig. 78)
iFig. 79)
88
the "20th Century" (See Fig. 30), which is sold as a pasteurizer
under the name of ''Farrington," having cooHng disks in another
compartment, while the "Miller," which I show with cooler at-
tached in Fig. 79, and the "Sturges & Burn" differ in using hot
water instead of steam, and in having the milk flow between two
revolving heating surfaces. Then we have the "regenerative"
heaters of which the Ahlborn is considered the best up-to-date.
The "regenerative" action is, that the cold milk cools the hot
while the hot milk heats the cold, and the great saving in heating
and cooling material (coal and ice) is thus evident.
In Fig. 80 I show a cross-section of the apparatus. The cold
milk runs into the upper circular receptacle H on top of the pas-
teurizer and flows over the corrugated mantel A ; here it is heated
by the warm milk inside the
mantel and is caught in the
annular trough B and led in-
to a small tank, not shown
in cut. This tank is connect-
ed with one of the most
"sanitary" pumps I ever saw
and the milk is forced
through the pipe C to the top
of the inner chamber in the
pasteurizer flowing over the
steam chamber D down the
inner side of the rotating
cylinder E and up between its
outside and the inner side of
the corrugated mantel A.
A thermometer T is placed
at the point where the milk
has its maximum heat. The
milk is then discharged to
the cooler through the pipe
F. It is evident that the
(Fiig. 80)
milk when it leaves the apparatus must have equalized, or nearly
so, the temperature of the cold and hot milk, or to give an ex-
ample, if the hot milk at T is 160 degs. and the cold milk at H is
50 degs., then the milk at E will be about 105 degs. or just about
right for running through the separator.
89
The Miller people and D. H. Burrell & Co. now also make
regenerative pasteurizers.
Personally, I prefer to heat the skim-milk and the cream
separately. I have found that when the new milk showed an
acidity of 14 cc by Mann's Test, the cream would only show 9 or
10 cc, partly on account of the greater proportion of fat and
partly, I presume, because many acid producing bacteria are sent
to the wall of the separator in the slime, and partly because there
is less serum in proportion to the fat.
But another reason is that at but few creameries can we
afford to cool the skim-milk properly, and hence, I deem it better
not to do it partially, but rather return the skim-milk real hot,
hot enough to pasteurize the little milk left in the cans.
Prof. Farrington draws the line of 0.2 per cent acidity, or
about II cc by Mann's Test for pasteurizing for commercial pur-
poses, and I feel inclined to draw a line not far from that even
for buttermaking. It is a fact to be remembered that all heaters
hitherto used will coat (and thus lose efficiency) just in propor-
tion to the acidity of the milk and that the cooked flavor also in-
creases with the original acidity.
Whatever system is used, a quick and intense cooling is abso-
lutely necessary if a cooked flavor is to be avoided. For this pur-
pose, the "Star," (Fig. 3), the "DeLaval" or the "Smith" Cooler
(Fig. 81), are all efficient and good. And so are the direct ex-
pansion'coils or brine coolers, used in
connection with refrigerator machinery.
But all these coolers require a con-
siderable drop, and if this is to be
avoided, I know of no better coolers
than the improved "Baer," shown in
Fig. 34, and arranged zig-zag, one un-
der the other. These coolers may be
made any length and three 10 feet
lengths will only require a total drop
of I foot, and the first heat can be tak-
en out by using the condensing water
from the refrigerator (say at about 78
.^ _^^ .^r or 80 deg.) in the first length, ordinary
(t^j.. mT^ water (say 50 to 55 deg.) in the next,
and, if desired to cool very low, brine in the last length which
90
should then be made of copper, though, for that matter, it is about
time that all coolers were made of copper.
In the matter of cooHng for practical huttermaking, I am de-
cidedly opposed to the bacteriologists, who from a (justifiable)
scientific standpoint, insist on cooling in a closed vessel like the
"Russell" or "Potts" pasteurizer.
I have seen too great improvement in the cream after this
combined cooling and aeration to give it up, and must insist on
recommending either of the above-mentioned or similar coolers.
It goes without saying that the room must be clean and the air
pure where they are used.
The effectiveness of coolers may be reduced by sediment left
by the cooling water and hence they should be cleaned inside now
and then.
the: body o^ pasteurized butter.
It used to be deemed a necessity to chill the pasteurized cream
first and then reheat it for ripening, but I have found equally good
results by simply cooling to ripening temperature (70 to 75 deg.)
and then adding the starter, as long as this is done quickly.
But when ripe, or nearly so, it is absolutely necessary to chill
it and keep it for at least a couple of hours at a temperature be-
tween 44 and 48 deg., or better still to cool it to about 46 deg. and
leave it over night. If this is done the body of pasteurized butter
will be fully equal to the unpasteurized from the same cream. In-
deed, in some experiments made in Kansas it scored a little high-
er, and the trouble of the makers who have not got good body
has been that they did not understand this or else did not have the
needed conrol of the temperature.
what temperature to use in heating.
Personally I have never tried to heat to more than 155 or
165 deg., and once when I had 170 dtg. I got a cooked flavor in
the butter, which, however, disappeared a week later. But that
was in experimenting with hauling hot cream; it had been al-
lowed to cool partially (to 138 to 140 deg.) in the jacketed cans
from 2 to 3 hours, while skimming and hauling it the* 13 miles
to the central creamery where it was cooled at once.
Recent reports of Danish experiments convince me that the
higher temperature cannot have been the cause.
91
At first the Danish creameries, 90 per cent, of which pas-
teurize; kept within the Hmit of 170 deg., but, in order to check
tuberculosis, a law was enacted that all skim milk and buttermilk
not used for cheese, should be pasteurized and the temperature
of 185 deg. (later only 180) was deemed necessary for the con-
tinuous heaters.
Before passing the law experiments were made by the gov-
ernment expert with heating the cream (out of the same lot) to
167 and 185 deg. Out of nineteen cases, the judges found the
butter from the cream heated to 185 deg. better in eleven, equal
in six, and poorer in three, and though the variation wjas but
small, the high heat showed the best keeping quality.
Other tests were made comparing 167 with 190 deg. Here 9
were better, 4 equal and 6 poorer from the high temperature, but
in the second judging 11 were better, 6 were equal and 2 poorer.
The cooked flavor was observable at first, but disappeared in a
few days, but great stress is laid upon quick cooling. It may
here be in order to sound a warning note as to the keeping of
utensils clean when pasteurizing. If it is not done and if a film of
casein is allowed to form, not only is the efficacy of the ap-
paratus reduced, but a distinct unclean taste is imparted to the
butter. The fact that this film is daily pasteurized does not help,
nor indeed must pasteurization be deemed a panacea for dirty,
tainted milk.
Do I advise pasteurizing for our creamery butter? For ex-
port, YES, most emphatically ; for home trade, No, not if it is to
be sold at once; the extra expense and trouble and the slightly
reduced yield (which may be estimated to increase the cost of
making from J^ to I cent per pound) does not pay in a market
that does not seem to appreciate the value of uniformity to that
extent.
But if it is to be kept in cold storage or if we look to the
future general good of the American Dairy Industry I have to
say yes here also, and hope for its general introduction.
CHAPTER XL
RETURNING THE SKIM MILK.
SKIM MILK WEIGHE:r.
Various devices, all more or less complicated, have been
patented by which the patron receives a check at the v^eigh can
and this allows him to take his share only of the skim milk.
Several worked quite satisfactorily, but have been given up as too
complicated and none have, as yet, stood the test of years of ex-
perience. I should prefer to hire a boy, a girl or an old man to
stand by a weigh can and scale. No doubt the problem will be,
even if it is not already, solved in some way, and the just division
of the skim milk provided, as this question causes more friction
than anything else. It must be left to each creamery whether to
keep a patent check weigher in order and clean or hire somebody
to weigh the milk. The skim milk tank and zveigher should be\
cleaned every day as carefidly as the receiving vat.
HKATING THE SKIMMILK.
In Europe the skim milk is heated in the more expensive
apparatus described elsewhere, but the comparatively few cream-
eries in the states, where the skim milk is heated, use steam
direct from the boiler or exhaust.
A simple device for the latter is to place a can in the skim
milk vat and let the skim milk be pumped into the can and over-
flow while the exhaust steam heats it in the can. Various other
more or less complicated devices are used.
Heating this way cannot be recommended. Even with
direct steam there is a dilution of about seven per cent., and with
exhaust there must be more. It is time that creamery owners
and patrons realized the full value of skim milk, and took proper
care of it.
In heating a vat of milk or water with direct steam, the
noise may be reduced and a current created by applying the
92
93
steam as shown in Fig. 82. Have the black-
smith close up one end of a short nipple (N),
so as to leave only a small opening (s), insert
this in a common T and apply steam at (S) ; this
will suck the milk or water from (m), and force
it out at (e), creating a lively current in the vat.
But whatever heaters are used, those con- '
tinuous heaters general in Europe or the direct
steam, experience has taught us that the milk is
liable to foam, overflowing the tank and prevent-
ing the filling of the cans in a satisfactory man-
ner.
The simplest device to overcome this trouble,
(Mg. 82) recommended by Prof. B. Boeggild, of Denmark,
is that patented by C. Mikkelsen. The skim milk vat is made of
heavy tinned steel plates with angle iron, round the top edge.
This allows the clamping of the cover firmly and tightly. In the
cover is an opening into which fits the half cylinder (Fig. 83)
which is provided with two dashers revolving on a shaft driven
with a cord pulley. The
skim milk enters the
vat through a closed
pipe and the foam rises
against the cover,
where it is caught by
the dashers and thrown
against the cylinder,
thus releasing the air
which escapes through ^^^^' ^'
the ventilating pipe. This foam killer is not needed when the
latest Fjord style pasteurizer (see Fig. 77) is used. In 1908 a
Danish foam killing pump was introduced but has not been tried
enough to obtain a reliable verdict.
To secure full protection against tuberculosis, the milk
should be heated to at least 180 deg. This is now compulsory in
the Danish creameries. A test has been invented by Dr. Storch,
by which the authorities can quickly and easily determine wheth-
er this has been done. The residue in the separator must also
be burned.
CHAPTER XII.
RUNNING BOILERS, ENGINES AND SEPARATORS.
Most of our dairy schools, dairy papers and books are all
very weak on these points. The best book I know of is Prof.
Michel's ''Creamery Buttermaking" (see book list). There are
handbooks on engines and boilers, but none popular enough writ-
ten with special reference to creameries.
I do not feel competent to fill this want. It would take a
300-page book to treat the subject exhaustively, so here are just
a few hints.
BOII^ERS.
Always have the boiler of nearly double the capacity of the
engine and do not grudge at a few dollars extra, but get the best.
For creameries the old
standby, "the built-in
tubular," like Fig. 84, is
the best. If the smoke
stack is built in front the
top should be insulated,
but if it is desired to
have the smokestack at
the other end, it costs
but little more to lead
the smoke back over the
(Fig. 84) ^^P' ^"^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^
an effective covering. In small skim stations and dairies the
tubular upright (Fig. 85) is the one to choose, though it is much
more difficult to keep clean.
Never buy a second-hand boiler without having it examined
by an expert.
Before starting a boiler examine the safety valve and steam
gauge (which should be at zero when the water is cold), the try
cocks and the glass gauge.
94
95
(Fig. 85)
Never pump cold water in-
to a hot boiler or blow it off
under pressure. If the water
j;hould be low (which it never
ought to be) find cut if it is
below the flues, and then bank
or cover the fire with ashes or
fresh coal if no ashes are at
hand, or draw at once. Don't
touch safety or any other
valves, and under no circum-
stance turn on the feed until
the boiler is partly cooled.
The water having been
analyzed, consult an expert as
lo boiler compound, but po-
tatoes or rice will, as a rule,
be good enough, and not hurt
the boiler as many compounds
do.
To keep it clean let out about 2 inches of water every morn-
ing before starting the fire and wash out at least once a month.
If flues gather scale scrape off. It is said that 1-16 inch loses 15
per cent, and ^ inch 60 per cent, of the fuel value.
Leaks should be stopped at once to prevent corrosion even
so leaking valves where the drip hits the boiler. As soon as
blisters appear, examine carefully and have them patched or
trimmed. All parts of the boiler exposed to the fire should be
kept perfectly clean and flues well .^wept, especially where wood
or soft coal is used.
Mr. Krebs says in the "Dairy Messenger:" "In firing with
fine coal a thickness of three or four inches is ample; when
greater the combustion is imperfect, wasting fuel and preventing
the full power of the boiler from being developed. A thin fire,
sparing and frequently renewed, is attended in every way by the
best results. The fuel should be heaviest at the sides, they having
a greater supply of air, on account of the spaces unavoidably left
between the fuel and the walls. Do not ^re with large lumps.
Boilers are often injured by unequal expansion and contraction,
caused by a strong fire on one side while there is a draft of cold
air through an open door on the other.
96
"If your boiler steams too fast, close your dampers and shut
off the draft. Never throw open your fire doors when it can be
avoided nor keep them open longer than is absolutely necessary.
It is injurious to the boiler and wasteful of fuel."
(It is a good plan to arrange the grate door so that when it
is open the damper is partly closed.)
"For boiler feed a small power pump, driven by a belt from
the shafting is the best. It consumes less steam than a direct-
acting steam pump, is cheaper and more reliable. It should be
fitted so that it can be worked by hand also.
"Injectors and inspirators are frequently used for feeding
boilers. They have the advantage that they are cheap, and that
they impart some heat to cold water where this is used for feed.
They cannot handle warm water and sometimes get out of order
and will not feed, and as this is often caused by slight derange-
ments of parts which it takes an expert to readjust, they often
cause trouble. I for my part have had more trouble with half
a dozen inspirators and injectors than with dozens of feed pumps,
and have a positive ill-feeling against them. If you want to hear
about their virtues you had better go to some agent for these
goods; they will tell you a different story. It is nevertheless a
handy instrument but a little tricky, and it is always wise to have
a pump in reserve should the injector prove balky.
"The water used
for the boiler
should be clear,
pure and soft, as
free from lime,
magnesia or oth-
er foreign matter
as possible. If it
is taken from a
(Fig. 86) stream that is apt
to be muddy, make a little basin large enough to give the water a
chance to settle. It will save its cost over and over again. Be
most careful not to allow any swill or sour drainage to mix with
the water you use. It will pit the iron and eat out the tubes in a
short time. This is also sometimes the case with water from other
sources, such as drainage from mines and even from apparently-
perfect springs."
97
ENGINES.
It is also economy to have the engine at least 25 per cent,
larger than actually needed. In choosing, simplicity, durability
and steadiness should be considered, and a good governor is very
important. Again I quote Mr. Krebs, who recommends one made
by the Straight Line Engine Co., Syracuse, N. Y., (Fig. 86) :
"The piston in an engine should be an easy fit, so as to move
with little friction, and at the same time it should be steam tight.
"If the back cylinder cover is removed, little steam should
escape if you place the engine on the front center, at which point
the valve ought to admit steam to that end. Again place the en-
gine on three-fourth stroke and turn on steam ; here the slide valve
ought to close both ports, and if the valve is tight no steam will
escape into the cylinder or from the exhaust pipe. Should steam
escape in quantities your engine needs repairs, in which case you
will have to get a trained mechanic to face and bed your slide
valve or refit the piston, as untrained people generally make bad
worse.
"The escape of steam in the positions mentioned might also
be caused by the eccentric working loose or having shifted. The
angle of advance of the eccentric for ordinary slide valves should
be such as to open the steam-port when the piston is at the end
of the stroke, and the length of the valve-rod should be adjusted
to give the valve equal opening at both ends."
Oil sufficiently, but do not slop it on the floor. Wipe the
engine when stopping for the day and keep it bright and clean.
Take a pride in it !
Before starting see that the governor is in good order, the
belt not too tight nor too slack, that the engine is level and firmly
bolted and that all boxes and shafting as well as pins and screws
are snug and tight, that the exhaust is open and the crank not on
the dead center and turn on steam slowly. Watch bearings closely
in the beginning, and if a hot-box should develop and plenty of
oil does not relieve it, stop and loosen it a little and try to finish
your work. You may have to stop long enough to cool and polish
before starting. If there is a grease cup on the crank and it is
kept filled, it will seldom heat. A little plumbago added to the
oil is also claimed to be a good thing for a hot-box.
Knocking or hammering may also be due to the piston
touching the heads, to the fly-wheel being loose, to loose keys or
^lack nuts. Worn bearings may be filed on the edges so as to fit
98
Always look over belts and everything in the afternoon, so
as to be ready for the morning work. A leaky valve or union
left to drip day after day is a "dead give away" of the maker as
a careless one. Here as elsewhere, "3. stitch in time saves nine."
Belts should be wide enough and long enough and pulleys
large enough to allow them to pull without being too tight. They
never work as well in a vertical as in a slanting, or better still,
horizontal position. The lower side should be the pulling one.
(See Fig. 87). If they slip apply a little belt grease (not too
much), and keep them soft with a coat of it now and then. Only
in emergency should powdered rosin be used. Protect leather
belts againts moisture; if that is impossible use rubber.
A common fault in creameries is too light shafting. It is poor
economy.
RUNNING TH^ SItPARATOR.
The separator, running at the high speed it does, is a delicate
piece of machinery and requires more care than is usually given
to it, which often does not exceed that given a chaff-cutter or
threshing machine. For the hand separators, some of the follow-
ing pointers for running power separators hold good.
See that your
separator is level
and follow the
directions of
the manufacturers
^ (Fig. 87) closely. Before
starting be sure that they are put together right, that in the
"Alpha" the riglet plates are in the right order in the right bowl
and the right bowl in the right frame.
Watch all parts liable to wear such as the bearings and the
rubber, which should be renewed whenever it loses its elasticity.
The threads in the bolts in the plate that holds down the rubber
ring should be watched as the loosening of this plate may cause
an accident. In putting a new rubber ring in the upper bearing a
little of it may be squeezed under the plate and this may cause the
loosening of the screws.
See that all oil cups are filled with the very best oil and in
good working order.
Don't forget to fill the bowl with water and to start slowly.
Mr. Leighton, in the "Chicago Dairy Produce," from which some
99
of these pointers are taken, says that not less than five minutes
should be used, and that when several separators are to be started
he prefers to put on all the belts and start the engine slowly.
While the ear may be a guide to a musical buttermaker in
guessing within a thousand or so revolutions per minute, never
neglect to use the speed indicator now and then.
If there is a stoppage in the milk supply, drive the last cream
off with skim milk or water, and if it is going to last half an hour
or so — stop. If only for a short time, keep up the speed and let a
small stream of water run through.
Mr. Iv. also thinks that about lo drops of oil per minute
should be enough and that if it takes 30 to 40 drops, it is time to
send the separator to the repair shop.
Sometimes the machine does not skim clean, and milk is
found in the frame. (I have seen the latter, or rather smelt it
stinking). Try the bowl with water without the cover on and
hold a dry piece of paper in front of it and you will soon know if
the bowl leaks, but it is by far more common that the bowl is not
set right, and hence a slight turn on the set screw below the lower
spindle will raise or lower it.
At other times the supply is too small and consequently a
richer cream is made, but more fat i:- left in the skim milk. Each
machine should be run up to its capacity, and this should not be
left to guess work.
Have two cans and let some one push them under the spouts,
when you give the word with watch in hand, and pull
them out after i or 2 minutes and weigh the cream and milk,
then you know what you are doing. Mr. Baer tells me that more
operators lose fat by running too little milk than any other cause.
TREMBLING MEANS LOSS OF BUTTERFAT.
As soon as the machine trembles, most operators think the
bowl is out of balance, whereas in most cases it is caused by the
bearings being worn and there can be no doubt that hundreds of
creamery owners or managers incur heavy repair bills by not re-
newing the worn out bearings in time. Duplicates should be kept
even if the outlay appears heavy at first.
Carelessness in handling the bowl, especially in washing,
will often bend the spindle a trifle, and then the bearings will
wear double quick. In hand separators curiosity often leads the
owner to unscrew the spindle covering. In replacing it they do
100
not get it to fit right and when screwing the cover on bend the^
spindle against the cog wheel.
But there is no end to the ways in which the operators get
into trouble; most of them can be avoided by following direc-
tions of the manufacturers strictly, and not touching screws one
has no business with. When in trouble write directly to the man-
ufacturers describing carefully all the symptoms.
Don't be tempted to buy a cheap oil "just as good," buy the
very best you can get
CHAPTER XIII.
ORGANIZING CREAMERIES.
CO-OPERATIVE.
The co-operative creameries are the best wherever the mem-
^bers have learned to co-operate in the true sense of the word,
have found the right man to manage, and trust him. The lack
of these essentials is the cause of their downfall in, alas, too many
cases.
But even at their best, a single co-operative just as a single
individual creamery, will find it hard to compete with the large
creamery companies which run from ten to one hundred cream-
eries and have systematized the work of producing uniform but-
ter at one end and seeking a market for it at the other. These
creameries are in reality an extension of co-operation, and have
relation to the single creamery similar to the latter's relation to
the private dairy.
Nevertheless I believe in the ultimate success of the co-op-
erative system, though it may require modification of our present
laws to allow it to embrace the combination of several co-opera-
tive creameries under one management. Or the Canadian syndi-
cate instructor system may be adopted.
As soon as it is found that the owners of at least 400 cows
(within a distance of four to five miles of the intended cream-
ery site) have agreed to join and deliver the milk, they should
organize, and, while listening to what creamery promoters may
have to say, make independent investigations.
As a rule they will be able to get good advice from the
Agricultural College of their own state, and it is a good plan to
send a committee of investigation to some successful co-operative
lOI
102
creamery, but never should they accept the invitation to do so
at the expense of a smooth-talking agent.
The preliminary expenses should be subscribed in cash by
the would-be members, but, as a rule, the needed capital can be
obtained from the local banker, securing it by joint notes or by
the directors' individual notes and payable from a fund created
by retaining a certain amount, generally five cents per lOO lbs. of
milk, out of the dividend.
Suggestion for constitution and by-laws may be found in-
Profs. Farrington and Woll's book on Milk Testing, but it may be
wise to consult a lawyer so as to be sure of the state laws. I
shall only give the hint that unless the directors leave most of the
details in management to the secretary or manager, it is by far
the best not to have too many directors.
In rendering account to the patrons of any creamery it seems
to me that the only right way is to give all possible information,
say something like this :
STATEMENT FOR THE MONTH OF , 1910.
Total milk received^ lbs. ; butterfat, lbs. ;
butter made, lbs.; (Name); de-
livered, lbs. of milk; testing, per cent, or
lbs. butterfat at cents per lb., $ .
INDIVIDUAL CR£:AMERIS:S.
If co-operation is not desired to the extent of building and
running the creamery, it is an easy matter to induce some individ-
ual or company to build one, provided you can agree to deliver
the milk from 300 or 400 cows. In that case subscribe the cows
and a cent or two per cow to pay for advertising in the dairy-
papers, and you will soon have propositions enough for a cream-
ery. The milk should be paid according to test and the price
fixed according to some market — New York or Elgin. The cost
of making will vary from 23^ to 4 cents, according to amount of
milk delivered.
COMBINATION SYSTEJM.
The trouble with the individual creamery is that no one can
afford to put up a good brick building with cement floor, etc.,.
103
and take the risk of patrons leaving. For this reason I am in
favor of the farmers always putting up at least the building and
then letting it v^ith or without machinery, if they don't want to
run it themselves. The rent should depend on price paid for
the milk and according to the quantity of milk delivered and be
free if the average is less than 3,000 lbs.
A similar system obtained in Kansas and Nebraska, where
large companies built and equipped large central creameries, and
then offered to put up skim stations all around for a certain
sum. The farmers agreed to sell their cream and pay for the
skim station in that way, and if, after a certain time, they did
not want to sell cream any more, they owned the building and
might change it to a creamery.
This system has, in the past six years, to a great extent, been
superseded by the readoption of the gathered cream system in a
modified form.
GATHERED CREAM CREAMERIES.
The most extensive creamery system used before the advent
of separators was the gathered cream system, where a "chum
station" was erected and teams sent out in all directions to gather
up the cream raised by shallow or by deep-setting under all kinds
of conditions.
(Fig. 88)
Only in exceptional cases was the cream paid for according to
grade, and the result was anything but satisfactory. The cream-
ery owners were, as a rule, satisfied as long as they got their
104
margin of profit per pound and had but little interest in quality
as long as they could get quantity.
With the advent of the separator these were pushed too far
into the gathered cream creamery districts, and milk was hauled
from 10 to 20 miles.
A reaction had to come and did come with a vengeance. The
sale of hand separators was pushed not only where they legimate-
ly belong, but also where creameries and skim-stations were doing
good work. Separator agents, in their anxiety to sell, claimed
there was no need of cleaning the hand separators every time
they were used, and the result has been a deterioration of the aver-
age quality of the butter made in the former whole milk creamery
district«i.
Now I am willing to grant
that if the hand separators are
kept clean, if the cream is proper-
ly cooled, and if it is delivered as
often as the milk is, then just as
good butter can be made, but
there are too many ifs in the
proposition, and the system has
to be run on a large scale involv-
ing long railroad shipments if
the full economical benefit of
centralization is to be obtained,
and this fact has evolved a new
system.
THK CENTRALIZE:d CRKAMieRlEJS.
This book is not written for
centralizers and I shall only re-
fer to the troubles and dangers
of the system.
First of all, it is a system
which requires a special freight
rate from the railroads and as such is dependent on these when
once an expensive plant has been established
Secondly, there is a limit to the profitable concentration of all
manufacturing plants, even those of steel, and how much more
those of butter.
The strongest point claimed in its favor is "uniformity," but
with from six to twenty-four or more different daily churnings
(Pig. 89)
I05
and with the absence of uniformity in the cream received, this ad-
vantage is, to a great extent, imaginary.
Educational work among patrons is virtually made impossi-
ble unless indeed an enormous staff of expert cream agents are
appointed, in which case the saving cost of manufacturing will
disappear.
My own belief has always been and is now that the only
permanently successful way in which the centralizing system can
be run, is by having cream gathering stations at the shipping
points provided with pasteurizing apparatus (heaters and coolers)
in charge of specially trained men who gather the cream every
day in summer and every other day in winter, in the forenoon,
and pasteurize it before shipping.
M e a n w hile
these factories
are doing the
best they can,
and try to im-
prove the qual-
ity by pasteur-
izing at the
central plant
and aerating
while hot — vir-
tually a reno-
vating process
for the cream
(Fig. 90) —and using a
large per cent, of starter to a very rich cream.
Special vats have been designed like the Wizard Agitator
made by the Creamery Package Mfg. Co. (Fig. 88), in which the
cream may be quickly tempered and mixed. It consists of an in-
sulated vat with a hollow rotating screw agitating and tempering
device arid mechanism for operating same. The vat is supplied
with a cover consisting of several thicknesses of metal separated
by insulating material. This cover, when closed, is sealed with
a water seal. It is attached to the vat by means of two sets of
parallel arms pivoted to the cover and journalled on the sides of
the vat. A crank is used for raising and lowering the cover.
When open, the cover is overhead and allows free access to the
vat from all sides. The screw, extending from end to end of the
vat, is built around, and fastened to a hollow steel shaft extending
io6
through the ends of the vat, rotated by
means of a bevel gear, shaft and pulley.
Through this screw the tempering water —
hot or cold — circulates. These vats are now"
also used in larger local creameries.
Indeed I may fairly say that the managers
of these plants are doing all they can to
make the best possible butter, and we must
look to the cream producers for further im-
provement in the quality.
I understand that payment by grade is
now used at some factories, but fear com-
(Fig. 91) petition among the different centralizers will
make this plan as impractical as with the old gathered cream
system and that to get their profit on as many pounds as possible,.
the operators will not be able to carry out the grading properly.
There are now, I presume, over a hundred different hand
separators in the market, and the same rule holds good as to
selecting one as for the power separators.
I illustrate some of the leading ones in
the Alpha, Fig. 89; the U. S. in Fig. 90;
the Simplex in Fig. 91, and the Reid in
Fig. 92.
Unless they are kept clean and are
run at the proper speed, the advantage
of centrifugal creaming is lost, and if
great care is not taken the cost of re-
pairs is likel} to be large.
I cannot recommend the haiid separ-
ator system be it with local factories or
centralizing plants, wherever 10,000 lbs.
of milk per day may be secured within a
(Pig. 92) radius of 3 or 4 miles.
CHAPTER XIV.
CREAMERY BUILDINGS.
SITE AND SURROUNDINGS.
In making a choice as to location, having made sure of the
cows, the following points should be considered: (i.) A supply
of good water. (2.) Possibility of proper drainage. (3.) Ab-
sence of disagreeable odors. (4.) Central location (central as
to milk supply, not geographically), preferably at a junction of
roads. (5.) Nearness to railroad station and ice supply.
A good substantial macadamized driveway and yard should
slope from the building. If a dug well is to be used the greatest
care should be taken in preventing surface water and drainage
from getting into it ; the only safe supply is an artesian well.
Too often the location is made a matter of compromise be-
tween patrons who try to get it near their own farms instead of
finding the best place for the creamery.
THE BUILDING.
The foundation should be made of stone and started below
the frostline. The floor should either be good smooth flagstones
or hard, glazed bricks, both laid in cement, or a good concrete
foundation for a Portland cement floor. A poor cement floor is a
delusion and a snare. Wooden floors should be made of 2-in.
Georgia pine, either beveled and corked like a ship's deck, or
matched and leaded. Soak with hot linseed (boiled) oil before
putting in use. The walls of the best modern creameries are
made of brick, preferably hollow brick, but in any case with 1-2-
inch air space in the center. The inside walls should be finished
with cement plaster or some of the patent waterproof plasters.
If of wood, I prefer inside lining of oiled Georgia pine up and
down without any bead and at least two air spaces lined with
good paper.
The wnndows should, as much as possible, be on the north
side and provided with screens, Venetian blinds, and in the north,
at least, with storm sashes.
The roof should have a steep pitch and is best made of slate,
but shingles boiled in a copperas solution will do. Tin roofs are
107
io8
all right for the boiler room, but too warm for the creamery
proper and, if used, should be painted white. The ceilings should
be double with air space. The smoke stack should be made of
brick and rather be lo feet too high than, as they generally are,
20 feet too low.
As to construction for small creameries where one man has
to attend to boiler and engine, separators or churns, as well as
to receive the milk, the one level system is the best.
The churn floor should be lowered enough to run the cream
from the vats into the churn.
Unless one has a self-lifting heater or elevator, a pump must
be used, and if so, one like the "Ideal" (Fig. 94), the one invented
by Mr. Wilmann (Fig. 95), or the Jensen sanitary pump (Fig.
(Fig. 94)
96), made of tinned bronze and fitted with union connections for
sanitary pipes, which are all easy to clean. Finally I must refer
to the latest Swedish which is like the old rotary force pump with
cogwheels but has a loose plate (imbedded in the removable side
cover) which may be set, while running, at various distances from
the cogwheels and thereby regulate its capacity from 500 to 5,000
lbs. per hour.
But pumps — even the most sanitary — are dangerous in a
creamery and hence, where the location allows and the creamery
IS large enough to allow the use of a special milk receiver, I pre-
fer the drop system which allows the milk to run from the weigh
can to the receiving vat, then to the heater, separator and cream
vat (via the pasteurizer if used) and thence to the churn.
The objection to the extra steps up and down necessitated
by this system should have but little weight compared with the
109
advantage of doing away with pumps, but most of the steps may
be done away with if an elevator, as suggested by me on page 49
or — ^better still — the modem Danish hydraulic one, is used.
The Danes tried, years ago, a cream elevator with cans mov-
ing automatically up and down on an endless chain emptying
themselves into the cream vat above, and though they seemed to
work well and they were used in many creameries they never
became general and are now hardly used, and the hydraulic ele-
vator (see Fig. 35, page 49) is now being introduced.
But even if we manage to do away with pumps altogether
there still remain the fixings and pipes which should be perfectly
smooth and tinned inside with curved copper bends instead of
the common L and only short pieces of pipes coupled together
whenever open conductors cannot be used. I am pleased to find
that the manufacturers are at last pushing such "sanitary" (more
or less) fittings and cannot too strongly urge buttermakers and
managers (or owners) to insist on getting them irrespective of
the extra cost. Poor fittings remain yet the weak point in most
creameries and in the city milk depots.
Finally I want to draw attention to the 1909 novelty — ^the Jen-
sen can drier (Fig. 97) which — if dust free air is used — seems
to me of value in all creameries where the milk or cream canb
are returned cleaned and empty.
It would be absurd to prescribe any special creamery plan ; if
the buttermaker is engaged it is well to consult him, but certain
general rules should be observed, such as having the ice house (if
any), refrigera-
tor, churn, work
room and cream
room away from
the boiler and en-
gine room in the
order named, the
ice house being
the farthest north.
The engine
should be in the
separator room,
not in the boiler
(^^^«-^> room. Also to
have the coal room next to boiler and easily accessible to unload
no
the wagons. To have the
skimmilk tank where it can
be got at for cleaning and
where milk spilt in drawing
will be drained and not soak
into the ground and make a
stench. To have all floors
slant to the gutter and the
drains provided with traps,
(Fig. 96) and to have good ventilation.
The creamery industry is no longer an experiment. Pros-
perity has followed in its footsteps, and land values have in-
creased when it has been conducted rightly. Hence, the creamery
should be looked upon as a pubHc institution, like a court house,
postofifice or school, and be built neatly, solidly and permanently,
even at a greater expense. On the front cover is shown the
facade of a Danish co-operative creamery. I am glad to note
that during the last fifteen years similar substantial creameries
have been built in the West.
May the good work go on.
In many cases bricks will
only increase the cost slight-
ly, and though it may sound
harsh, I must say that it
would be a blessing if five
out of ten creameries burn-
ed down, provided proper
brick buildings were sub-
stituted.
Various plans may be
found in the catalogues of
dairy supply houses, and
when you order an outfit
they will, as a rule, give ad-
vice and often modified
plans free, but it is safer
always to get the advice of
a government expert or
pay for that of a private
(Fig. 97). disinterested one.
CHAPTER XV.
DAIRY EDUCATION.
No creamery buttermaker should be satisfied, even if he has
ten years' experience in a creamery, until he has taken a creamery
.course in a dairy school. The greater his previous experience
is, the more he will learn, and he must have at least one year's
experience to get any good from the course at all. Indeed, most
schools now demand this.
Granting even that he may be a better maker than the teacher,
that he is a smarter mechanic, that he knows more about running
engines, separators and machinery generally, the fact remains
that he will leave the school with a new view of his work, with
a greater pride in his profession, and with a clearer eye to pos-
sible self-improvements. As for finishing his education, the very
best makers are those who do not finish until their life's churning
is done.
As to the dairy course, any farmer's boy or girl can get great
good out of a short course, and no one who can possibly afford
it, should neglect to take one. After all, however, it is but a
small minority of the farmer's boys and girls that can get to these
schools, and though we have, in the Farmers' Institutes and
various conventions, the means of bringing dairy education near-
er to the farmers, I hope yet to see the modified "Belgium" sys-
tem, (urged by me for years in vain), adopted. By this system,
any county or township that agrees to provide room, ice and milk,
and where at least lo students enroll, should secure a month's
dairy schooling near home with a minimum of science and a
maximum of practical suggestions how to do the best work under
the present condition.
I consider the one week's instruction given by the English
^nd Canadian traveling schools too short, and the same money
spent on the plan I urge will reach more people and do more good
ithan ten times the amount spent on the large central dairy schools.
The latter we must have — and they should be the Dairy Co/-
III
112
leges or Universities, if you please — but we have now enough of
that kind such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, New York^
etc., to educate the needed creamery butter makers, whose sal-
aries are too low as it is. What we need is to help the private
dairymen and the milk producers, and these can best be reached
by the proposed perambulating Dairy Grammar School. Or, bet-
ter still, perhaps the time will come when the whole system of
education will be modified; when the county "grammar" school
will be cut down to four or at most six years, when text books
pointing to the farm instead of from the farm will be used; and
when county farm and technical schools will take the place of the
last tw^o years of our present grammar schools, and the first
two years of the regular high schools, leading, as the case may be,,
to the state agricultural, the technical or classical university.
The Dairy Press is an important link in dairy education, and
no dairyman should be without several, first of all "Hoard's
Dairyman" and creamerymen should have "New York Produce
Review," the "Dairy Record," "Creamery Journal," "Chicago
Dairy Produce," etc. A full list of dairy papers is given else-
where and any of them will cheerfully send a sample copy.
The Dairy Division, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Wash-
ington, D. C, may at any time be applied to for advice, and help
and will send such bulletins as may assist you in your work free
of charge or at a nominal cost.
But of all the means of patrons' education, I rank as highest
the school house meetings, held once a month or so, where neigh-
bors may meet and exchange views. Such a "club" should own
a library for reference, and I suggest as a "starter^' Prof. Henry's
"Feeds and Feeding," Prof. Russell's "Dairy Bacteriology,"
Prof. Farrington and Woll's "Testing of Milk and Its Products,"
Prof. King's "Physics of Agriculture," which means an expendi-
ture of only $5.75, or a complete farmers' library (co-operative)'
might be established at the creamery, see book list
CHAPTER XVI.
VARIOUS KINDS OF BUTTER.
The various designations used on the markets for butter are
as follows :
CreamKRY ''specials," "extras," ''firsts," "seconds," "thirds"
and (seldom) "fourths."
Dairy "extras," "firsts" and "seconds."
Imitation Creame:ry, Renovated or Proce:ss, Ladlks or
Factory, Packing Stock and finally Gre:ase:.
"AduIvTERated'' butter, while defined officially, is not quoted
on the market.
Butter is scored on a scale of lOO points, with 45 for flavor,
25 for body, 15 for color, 10 for salt and 5 for style.
CREAMERY.
As creamery butter is accepted all butter made either by the
separator creamery system or gathered cream creamery. "Spe-
cials" must score 93 points or above from May to November, and
92 points during the other months. "Extras" 91 to 92 points,
and 90 to 91 points; "firsts" 81 to 90 points and 86 to 89 points;
"seconds," 82 to 86 points and 81 to 85 points ; "thirds," 80 points
and below. This basis of scoring is in use in New York. Other
markets vary their standard slightly.
DAIRIES.
Dairy butter is that made on one farm and classified like the
creamery.
IMITATION CREAMERY.
This is dairy butter delivered in granular or at least unsalted
form, worked, salted and packed by dealer or shipper. There is
hardly any of this on the market now, but the name is sometimes
used for high grade ladles or factory butter.
RENOVATED BUTTER.
Renovated or Process butter is any kind of pure butter melt-
ed, and after the clear oil is separated and purified, it is re-
churned with ripened cream or milk. The manufacturer has now
to pay a license of $50.00 ; all tubs must be marked according to
law and a tax of 1-4 cent per pound be paid.
113 ■'-■■■ •^...
114
LADI.ES OR FACTORY.
This is dairy butter, graded or mixed, reworked, colored
and salted. The better grades are sometimes often fraudulently
branded "creamery." The output of ladles has been greatly re-
duced since the introduction of the improved system of making
up such butter as Process butter. In ladles all dirt is retained,
while in process butter it is eliminated. There is now a great
danger in ladling as the water content must be kept down to
1 6 per cent, or less, and if it exceeds that, prosecution for making
"adulterated" butter may follow.
PACKING STOCK.
Pa'cking Stock is dairy butter of all kinds, packed either
each roll wrapped separately or promiscuously thrown into a
box or barrel.
GREASE
Grease is any kind of butter unfit for human food.
ADULTERATED BUTTER.
As adulterated butter is classed butter, which, by any pro-
cess of churning, ladling or renovating, is made to contain an ab-
normal amount of moisture or solids other than fat. Manufac-
turers have to pay $i,ooo license and the product is taxen loc.
per pound.
I understand that several ladle creameries and dealers have
been heavily fined by the internal revenue department for butter
having more than i6 per cent, water, which has been declared
the limit. It is therefore well for buttermakers, especially in the
South during the hot weather, to be on their guard and not in-
corporate too much water in their butter.
Under this head comes the "black pepsin" or "butter ren-
net" frauds, but not adulteration with foreign fats which comes
under the classification of oleomargarine.
WHEY BUTTER.
In making "Cheddar" cheese there ought to be but little fat left
in the whey, and it is a doubtful question whether it would pay
to separate it. Otherwise with "Gouda," "Edam" and "Swiss"
there is left enough to make it worth while. The whey is left to
"cream" by gravitation and churned the usual way and the but-
ter is, as a rule, pretty poor, though I have sampled some very
good in England. By running the whey through a separator,
taking one-fifth as cream the first time and then running this
"5
through a second time, a churnable cream may be obtained which
will give a very fair butter if the original milk was good. If
the whey has been heated to 130 or 140 degrees as in Swiss
cheesemaking, it may be advisable to use a starter, otherwise the
cream is ripe enough as a rule shortly after separating. Makers
of whey butter must be careful not to incorporate more than 16
per cent, water.
The whey butter industry among the Canadian Cheddar
cheese factories has gained quite a foothold during the past few
years by separating the whey cream and sending to central churn-
ing stations.
DEVONSHIRE BUTTER.
The thick Devonshire cream before described is churned in
a short time by stirring it by hand in a tub. This system obtains
as yet to a certain extent in England.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
Introduction • ^
I.-— The Milk Production 4
II. — Receiving Milk at the Creamery 17
III.— Raising the Cream 22
IV.— Heating the Milk 37
V. — Cream Ripening 42
VI. — Churns and Churning 53
VII.— Salting and Working 63
VIII. — Packages and Packing 72
IX. — Ice House and Refrigerators 81
X. — Pasteurization for Buttermaking 85
XI.— Returning the Skim Milk . . - 92
XII. — Running Boilers, Engines and Separators 94
XIII. — Organizing Creameries 101
XIV.— Creamery Buildings 107
XV.— Dairy Education Ill
XVI.— Various Kinds of Butter 113
W/E manufacture and sell the most
complete and up-to-date line of
specialties for the handling of milk
in any quantity, and for the manu-
facture of butter and cheese.
* 'Simplex" Link Blade Cream Separators.
''Simplex" Combined Chm-ns k Butter
Workers.
"Simplex" Regenerative Pastem*izers.
"Simplex" Cream Ripeners.
"Simplex" Tubular Milk Coolers.
"Facile" Babcock Milk Testers.
"B & W" Double Surface Heaters.
"B & W" Improved Check Pump.
Steel Gang Cheese Presses and Hoops.
"Lapham" Brand Seamless Bandage.
Chr. Hansen's Celebrated Danish Dairy
preparations.
We are also the manufacturers of the
Burrell - Lawrence - Kennedy
Milking Machines.
Write for our catalogues and prices.
D. H. Burrell (Si Co.
LITTLK FALI.S, N. Y.
Helps to Make
Superb Butter
jWr Dairyman
And Mr. Buttermaker
If your salt is impure, or
too fine-grained, or com-
paratively insoluble, i t
places you under a handi-
cap that you will find it
hard to overcome. A handi-
cap that you may never
overcome at all, so long as
you continue to use that
kind of salt.
For too fine-grained salt
washes out in the working
—wastes.
Insoluble salt makes your
butter gritty, and uneven-
ly flavored.
And impurities in salt
affect the flavor of your
butter, and also its keep-
ing qualities.
If you want really superb
butter, with a fine, even
flavor and perfect keeping
qualities, then you must
use a pure salt, flaky-grain-
ed and perfectly soluble.
Such a salt is Diamond
Crystal.
J& 4^ ^&
vKhE largest creameries in
this country, as well as
many of the best butter-
makers and dairymen, have
proved by strict trial that
Diamond Crystal does help
them to get the highest
grade of butter.
By far the greater part of
all prize-winning butter at
State Fairs and Contests is
salted with Diamond
Crystal.
Because Diamond Crystal
does help Diamond Crystal
is over 99% pure. You
can' t go wrong if you use it.
DIAMOND CRYSTAL SALT CO.
ST. CLAIR, MICH.
J. G. CHERRY COMPANY
Main Office
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Manufacturers of Creamery & Dairy Machinery Supplies
A few of our specialties.
Capper Paraffineri, Friday Butter Printers, Cherry Jacketed
Cream Cans, Tubular Coolers, Eyota Churn Fillers, Sanitary
Vats, Improved Haugdahl Starter Cans, Culture Cans, Ames-
Cherry Moisture Test, Sanitary Pumps, Sanitary Metal
Specialties and Dairy Tinware.
Jenseo Crtam Ripenm, Jensco Pastcnrizcrs, Jeagen Coolcri,*'Faclle"
Babcock Testers, etc., etc.
United States selling agents for tlie Perfection Combined
Cliurn and Butter Worker.
Send for our 1910 catalog. ,
Everything for the Creamery and Dairy.
THE
A. H. B.=
OF BUTTERMAKING
tells a nice story about the place to buy
good Machinery and Supplies for use
in making and marketing fine butter.
Let the
A. H. BARBER CREAMERY SUPPLY COMPANY
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
SEND THIS BOOK FREE TO PARTIES INTERESTED
OUR MACHINERY IS MADE RIGHT.
WE STAND BACK OF IT.
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
be
tTl
seJ
an
no
SEP 2 71565
Mix ]gce
60-
CWaJlATIONDEPi:
(E
lon't
Briea
four
uble
onr-
enee
that
ests.
N"N.
3cause
com-
!ry in-
re are
e and
steel
's why
LIBEAEY, BRANCH OF THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE *'***^
5w-9,'35(s) ,
k, san-
itary cover and one-piece round handle. You
as a practical dairyman will appreciate all the
advantages of using S. & B. Milk Cans. Our
Free Book No. 82 tells all about them. Write
for a copy now — on a postal. Address —
Sturges & Burn Mfg. Co.
508 South Green Street,
CHICAGO, Illinois
i
Pressboard
Pamphlet
Binder
Gaylord Bros.
Makers
Stockton. Calif.
PAT. JAN. 21. 1908
21934
Monrad, J.
H,
A. B. C
making.
in butter
SF263
]v:6
1910
A/6
:-A'
BRANCH OF THB.;f!OLIiBQB OF AGEIgUIiTUBBj pAVIS